


To Make The Bridge

by Lucy_Luna



Series: Give in to Friendship [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Family, F/M, First War with Voldemort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Original Character(s), POV Alternating, Sequel, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26642020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy_Luna/pseuds/Lucy_Luna
Summary: Sirius persuades Severus to spend a long weekend with the Lupins over the summer. Severus is dubious about how it will go and Sirius's assurances do little to assuage him. In the end, the visit goes better than either of the boys let themselves hope possible.
Relationships: Hope Lupin & Severus Snape, Hope Lupin/Lyall Lupin, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape, Lyall Lupin & Severus Snape, Marauders & Severus Snape, Severus Snape & Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black & Severus Snape, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Give in to Friendship [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871374
Comments: 71
Kudos: 107





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> So, you all can thank [Ailec_12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailec_12/pseuds/Ailec_12) for this sequel. She inspired it with an idea in a comment on _Boy-Snape_. I hope everyone enjoys this follow-up to the story!

Severus was trying very hard to finish his end-of-the-year essay for defense against the dark arts, however, he was finding it to be quite difficult. Sirius had discovered him in the tiny, hidden space he’d found for himself behind a dusty bookcase full of texts on the Goblin Wars. He’d thought no one would think to look behind it since nearly everyone in Hogwarts gave the subject wide berth thanks to the bad connotation Professor Binn’s teaching of the subject had created. 

However, as he often was with Sirius, Severus had been wrong. Sighing, he threw his quill down on the table, uncaring of how ink splattered across it and his half-finished essay. Glaring at Sirius who’d paused in his whinging, he hissed, “No.”

“Why not?” demanded the other, crossing his arms and meeting Severus’s glower with a scowl of his own.

Severus couldn’t look at Sirius anymore. He didn’t understand how Sirius couldn’t already _know_ , but since he didn’t… “They aren’t going to want me in their home,” he said with his eyes still fixed on the dark grain of the wooden tabletop. He was more than used to being unwanted, but it was another thing to admit to it to someone else.

“They do!” insisted Sirius and when Severus raised his eyes, shooting him an incredulous look, his friend offered a small, embarrassed smile as he added, “I had Remus ask them already.”

For a moment, he was furious Sirius would try to arrange his summer without even _asking_ him first. Then, Severus simply felt exasperated. Had Lupin and Sirius told his parents he was _the_ Severus Snape who discovered Lupin’s most guarded secret? He was convinced they didn’t. There was no way they would have agreed to a weekend visit otherwise. 

Even so, he asked with some reluctance, “…They do know I am the Severus Snape that nearly got their son expelled and possibly thrown in Azkaban for attempted murder, don’t they?”

Sirius pulled a face at him from across the table. Severus glared, annoyed that his friend was acting as if he had just asked a stupid question. “Uh, yeah?” said Sirius. “I mean it’s not like Snape is a common name around here…”

“And they _agreed_?” replied Severus, disbelieving. His brows were knit tightly together as he tried to wrap his head around the fact the Lupins would allow him past their home’s threshold.

“Yeah!” said Sirius with a wide grin that was just a little forced around the edges. In an utterly obtuse way he gushed, “Isn’t it brilliant?”

“What is the catch?” demanded Severus with a narrowed gaze and frown.

Sirius, wide-eyed, echoed, “Catch?”

Severus made a noise of disgust. Sirius couldn’t truly believe he was this dull, could he? If the Lupins were allowing him, a person who could ruin their son, into their home, they had to want something. “What are they expecting I do for their family in return for letting me stay a weekend?” he asked more plainly, hoping it would leave no room for Sirius to skirt around the issue any longer.

Instead of his expression turning into one of guilt or sheepishness, Sirius’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in bewilderment. “Nothing!” he sputtered.

“Really,” said Severus in a flat tone as he gave the boy he’d begun to think of as his friend a cool stare. “They aren’t hoping I can give them money for a Wolfsbane potion or brew it myself?”

“Merlin, Severus!” exclaimed Sirius, shaking his head. Severus was startled when Sirius reached over the table and grabbed one of his hands that were resting on the table. He tried to pull away, but the other boy wouldn’t let him. His eyes were earnest as he said, “Not everything in life is a trade-off. Sometimes, people just can be persuaded to do nice stuff because it’s the right thing to do.”

He couldn’t believe Sirius. It just didn’t make _sense_ to Severus. “How is offering their home to their son’s greatest threat the right thing to do?”

Sirius fell silent a moment. Then, with his eyes trained on his and Severus’s linked hands, he mumbled in a single breath, “Imighthavesaidyourdadisterrible?”

Severus blinked as he tried to make sense of the sounds he’d just heard. Then, he pursed his lips. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what Sirius had said. He was not the least bit pleased. However, he wanted it said again. He could then be as righteously cross as he pleased. “Repeat yourself,” he demanded. “Slowly.”

Sirius breathed in and out. Meeting Severus’s gaze, he explained in a clear, aggravatingly righteous tone, “I told them your dad is kind of awful and I think a long weekend away from him would help you out a lot and let you understand that all any of them — the Lupins, I mean —want is to live peacefully.”

Severus ripped his hand away from Sirius and his other went for where he kept his wand tucked in the pocket of his slacks. He wanted to hex Sirius. However, something was stopping him. Sentiment, perhaps. “You had no right!” he snarled as he tried to fight past the childish adoration he held for this traitor in front of him.

“I’m sorry!” said Sirius in a shaking tone. Severus’s heart constricted and his hand’s grip on the wand loosened ever so slightly. Sirius, blinking his eyes at a rapid speed, admitted, “I should have thought of a better way to persuade them. But I…” he sighed. Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he stared at Severus with a drained, wrought gaze and said, “Look, I know you don’t like talking about him. I also know good parents, like the Lupins, the Potters, go soft for boys from broken homes. They want to help them, help _us_.”

Severus let go of his wand. 

“I don’t need help,” he spat.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Sure, Severus.” 

Gritting his teeth, Severus fought down the surge of fury the gesture brought out. He growled at the other boy, “I am seventeen. I can use my magic at home and my father will learn very quickly I am not someone he can cross any longer.”

Sirius sighed again and looked at him with what Severus thought was pity. He hadn’t wanted to punch Sirius so badly in _months_. “You don’t want to spend your whole summer in a miserable standoff with your dad,” he said.

Severus didn’t, but he would. He knew, in the end, he would not be one who lost it at least. The summer would end with him going back to Hogwarts, finishing his education, and never _ever_ going back to Spinner’s End. His dad would be alone, looking like a _freak_ without a person in the world who cared about him. “ _He_ will be miserable _not_ me,” declared Severus.

Sirius’s shoulders fell. “I guess if you’re really set on staying in Spinner’s End _all summer_ …”

He didn’t know why, but Severus’s stomach dropped. “Do you not want to see me this summer?” he questioned at a volume hardly above a whisper.

Sirius made a small gasping sound. Then, he said, “Of course I do! Where did you—” He stopped and winced. “Oh, ha,” he mumbled with a weak chuckle. “I was just kind of exaggerating. Sorry, Severus.” A small smile on his face, he said to Severus in a soft tone, “I really just want you to think about seeing them, okay? I think you’ll really like the Lupins.” He laughed again, more loudly, his amusement genuine. “Or at least Remus’s mom. She’s kind of bookish the same way you are.”

Severus felt his resistance give away. Sirius was asking for a single long weekend. Three days out of a few months. However… “Visiting them alone would be rather awkward.”

Sirius tilted his head and side-eyed Severus. “Are you… You’re saying you’ll stay if I do too, aren’t you?” he asked.

Severus did not answer his friend plainly, instead, he jumped ahead in their conversation. He was already thinking of the logistics of their stay with the Lupins and told Sirius, “I don’t know the size of the Lupin’s home, but I don’t mind sharing a bed if it comes down to it.”

Sirius laughed. “The guest bed is way too small for that,” he said with a wide grin that infuriated Severus with how smug it was. “But I bet we could transfigure up another,” he added. Then, stroking his chin, suggested, “Or I could turn into Padfoot and sleep at the foot of it.”

“However you prefer,” replied Severus with a shrug.

“Wow!” said Sirius with eyes bugging from his head. “You’re not saying no to sharing your bed with a _mutt_!”

Severus hesitated. Then, in a hot tone, said, “…A dog is preferable to the likes of you.”

Sirius mimed a knife to his heart. “Ouch, Severus,” he complained. “You’ve wounded me.”

He rolled his eyes at his friend. “Stop that.”

“Hey, you know what would be even better?” exclaimed Sirius, standing up and leaning over the table to bring their faces mere centimeters apart. “One day, we should have James and Peter over too. The five of us could camp out in the yard. It’ll be like old times, but better.”

“…It will only be like old times if Joan is there,” said Severus, thinking of his earlier “camping trip” this year.

Sirius bobbed his head. “Sure!” he agreed. “We can invite her too. That’ll be wicked, actually. She’ll like getting to know some of her housemates better before the new school year.”

“She’s not a Gryffindor,” argued Severus. Not yet, anyway. Severus was dreaming for possibly never. He half-hoped she would be a Slytherin. She was certainly resourceful enough for the house. But if not, he’d settle for Joan being a Ravenclaw like her older brother. Severus had never had _that_ much of a problem with Jack.

“Oh, but she will be!” insisted Sirius with a shockingly serious expression. “She’s way too brave for anywhere else.”

“She could be Slytherin,” countered Severus scowling at Sirius. “You have to have cunning to survive what she did,” he explained. “As well as have the ambition to see tomorrow.”

Sirius leaned back, eyes narrowed. “I’ll bet you ten sickle she’ll be a Gryffindor,” he declared.

Severus was not one to turn down a bet. Especially when there was money involved and he felt confident he could win. “I will hold you to that,” he said.

“Sure, no problem,” agreed Sirius with a flippant rise and fall of his shoulder. Then, snapping his fingers, he asked Severus, “Hey, do you think I should see if Lily will come too if we invite Joan?”

Severus stilled. Lily and him… Were _not_ not friends. However, their days of holding hands as they saw shapes in the clouds over Cokeworth were long gone and he didn’t think they would ever return. He did not believe she would accept an invitation to camp at the Lupins’. Joan being there would matter little if he was in attendance.

“…She won’t want to come.”

“I know you two aren’t exactly mates again yet, but she does still care about you,” said Sirius with an earnestness that made a lump form in the back of Severus’s throat. “Plus, if James agrees…” mumbled Sirius, glancing away.

“Ah, yes. Her and Potter,” he grumbled. He _hated_ the way the two of them looked at each other. He _hated_ what it meant. _Hated_ that she would never think to look at him like that.

Sirius sighed and Severus jumped when Sirius laid a hand on top of his. “You had to know it was coming,” he said in a consolatory tone.

Severus did not want to admit it. Did not want to believe this… _development_ was in the making for a long time coming. Perhaps longer than the rift between him and Lily. Instead, he griped, “I can’t understand it. For _years_ she thought he was a toerag and now!”

Sirius sighed again and his hand lifted and fell back on top of Severus’s in a sympathetic pat. “He’s practically a goody-two-shoes these days,” he grumbled, almost as if he was commiserating with Severus. He realized that, maybe, Sirius was. In a way, he was losing his best friend too. James’s world did not revolve around Sirius and their group of marauders anymore. Now it included Lily and Sirius had to _share_.

His friend was not always very good at that.

“He’s really knocked off all of the pranks and stuff, you realize that right?” he said, face now in his hands. Something like shame flashed across Sirius’s countenance. “After… After what I did last year he said he wasn’t doing it anymore. He thought it would only encourage me and stuff.” He pulled a face then that was more annoyed than contrite as he complained, “I guess that change really impressed Lily and opened her eyes to his other good qualities.”

Severus decided he could put up with Potter and Lily making lovesick eyes at each other if Sirius could stand it too. But… “Don’t expect me to be _nice_ to Potter,” he huffed.

“Sure,” agreed Sirius. Then, after a pause, he added, “Just, you know, I think Lily will befriend you faster if you’re at least polite and stuff to everyone.”

Severus did not feel the least bit like being polite to Potter. “I don’t need her friendship,” he sneered.

“ _Yeah_ , but you want it, don’t you?” insisted Sirius.

He bit the inside of his cheek. Yes. Severus _did_ want Lily for a friend. Having her in his life mattered much more than having her as in the exact position he wanted. “There’s no one like her,” he admitted.

“Right,” said Sirius in a slow drawl that told Severus he absolutely did not comprehend. Internally, he rolled his eyes. He had no intention of explaining it to Sirius. “So, this is settled?” asked Sirius. “We’re going to all camp overnight in the Lupins’ garden and then you and I’ll spend the rest of the weekend visiting with them?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

Sirius stuck out his hand, smiling. “You drive a hard bargain, Severus, but I think I like it,” he proclaimed.

Severus stared at Sirius’s hand briefly before taking it to humor his friend and shook it. “I’ll let you know how I care for the bargain once it’s over,” he said, making sure not to smirk.

Sirius threw his head back and cackled. When he looked at Severus again, his eyes were bright as he declared, “You’re a riot.”

Severus no longer could entirely hide his smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you enjoy this first chapter? Are you excited for Severus to have his long weekend at the Lupins? To see Joan again?
> 
> Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts with comments and/or kudos :)


	2. II

Sirius had decided after getting Severus’s agreement to a long weekend at the Lupins’ they’d have their campout on their first night there. Severus would meet Remus’s parents, but the afternoon and night would be spent around more familiar people outside and away from Lyall and Hope for the most part. Sirius thought it’d lead better to a nice weekend because he was starting to realize that Severus was a bloody _cat_. You couldn’t just introduce him to somebody and expect him to be friendly and polite right away. Instead, you had to let him warm-up to a person on his own time and hope, in the end, he found them if not likable, inoffensive.

To help meet the end-goal of Severus liking Remus’s parents, he showed up at the Lupin home a half-hour ahead of their agreed-upon meet-up time. However, it seemed it was pointless on Sirius’s end. It was nearly half-past three and Severus had yet to show himself at the front door.

Pacing on the linoleum tiles of the kitchen, he looked over at his friend who was reading from some Muggle magazine and drinking a glass of chocolate milk. Pausing in front of the little picture window that looked out on the street in front of Remus’s house, Sirius pulled back the sheer cream-colored curtains and asked, “You did tell him how to get here, didn’t you?”

Remus sighed. “Yes, Sirius,” he said in a patient voice. “I know how important this is to you. I gave him verbal _and_ written directions.”

“He’s late,” Sirius grumbled, letting the curtain fall back over the window. Turning around, he leaned against the wall beside it and crossed his arms.

His friend put the magazine down and looked at the clock his family kept hung above the kitchen’s fridge. He frowned. “Sn— Severus is, from what I have seen, a punctual sort,” he remarked.

Severus was. That was why Sirius was getting anxious. This wasn’t like his mate. He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Probably nerves,” he said even though he didn’t believe it.

Remus didn’t seem to believe it either as he raised an eyebrow at Sirius. “Nerves,” he repeated in a tone dripping with disbelief.

Sirius gave the other a resolute nod. “Yeah.”

“You pushed him to visit, didn’t you?” questioned Remus with a highly displeased look.

He pushed off from the wall and returned his attention to the world outside. “Well…”

Remus made a noise of frustration. “Sirius, we _talked_ about this—”

“Hey!” exclaimed Sirius, cutting off his friend. “I think that’s him out there!” he said, squinting at the dark shape he saw coming out from behind a few trees down the street perpendicular to the Lupin family home. Bolting for the front door, he threw it open and yelled down the street, “Severus!”

As he waved at the other teenager, Remus joined him in the open doorway. Sirius saw from the corner of his eyes that Remus’s expression was growing uneasy the nearer Severus came to them. He had one arm up hiding the lower half of his face. “Is he okay?” asked Remus. “He’s covering his face.”

Sirius looked directly at Remus. “You don’t think he spliced himself, do you?”

“Let’s hope not,” said Remus as he stepped past Sirius to wave at Severus.

“Severus, hey!” he called. “What happened?”

Now at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the Lupins’ front door, Severus stared up at the two of them, glaring. Slowly, he lowered his arm to reveal a pretty nasty cut on his upper lip. “Nothing,” he muttered.

“That’s a pretty bad cut,” said Sirius as he went and joined Severus on the path in front of the stairs. He tried to get close and inspect it, but Severus jerked away.

Remus, who held the front door open now, asked, “Do you want to come inside? We have stuff you could put on it.”

Severus started to scowl, only to wince. “It’s fine.”

Sirius was going to point out the horseshit Severus was spewing, but, before he got the chance, the scent of powder and chamomile permeated the air. Sirius stilled. Hope had joined Remus in the doorway. “Boys, has Severus—” she stopped, hands fluttering in front of her face. “Oh my!” she exclaimed after overcoming her sudden speechlessness. Grabbing Remus’s arm, her soft features turned determined as she commanded, “Remus, Sirius, bring him to the kitchen. I will get the dittany from the kit.”

As she disappeared back into the house, Remus looked at them and said, “You heard Mum, let’s go.” When Severus glared at him, he told the other teenager, “She’s not going to let this go.”

Severus, however, stayed rooted to his spot as Sirius took the steps two at a time to join Remus in the house. “It’s all right!” grumbled Severus. “I just need a bloody mirror and I can take care of it myself.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Let her fuss, she’ll leave you alone later.”

“Fine!” spat Severus as he finally followed Sirius and Remus into the house. As they walked in, and around the corner into the kitchen, they found Hope sitting at the room’s table, going through vials in a white, Muggle medical box.

“Oh, there you are,” she said, distracted. “I was afraid something else was wrong,” she remarked as she pulled a vial with a blue cork from the box, an absent smile passing over her lips.

“No, just his lip,” said Sirus as he guided Severus to the table and forced him to sit in the chair next to the woman.

“Here, let me clean that,” said Hope, picking up a little packet and tearing it open to reveal a damp towel.

“I can do it,” replied Severus, trying to take it from Hope.

She dodged his hand and leaned forward to press the towel to Severus’s lip. “I’ll be but a moment,” she muttered as he went abruptly still. She finished cleaning his lip and then uncorked the bottle she pulled last from the box in front of her. “Here’s the dittany,” she said, “hold still!” If it were possible, Severus turned even tauter and Sirius began to wring his hands, worrying he’d need to dive in and separate them before Severus did something regrettable. Thankfully, it didn’t come to it as Hope leaned away and began to gather up the used towel, its wrapper, and the dittany. “There, I think it will be fine in the morning,” she declared.

“Thank you,” said Severus, eyes on his knees.

“I’m Remus’s mother, by the way,” said Hope, putting out her hand for Severus. When he took it, she smiled at Severus who still wouldn’t quite meet her gaze and said, “You can call me Hope.”

“It is nice to meet you, Mrs. Lupin,” he returned and Sirius snickered into his hand. He knew Severus would absolutely refuse to call Remus’s mum by her first name. Severus thought himself too polite for such things.

“Oh,” said Hope, blinking at Severus. “Well, whatever you’re comfortable with I suppose.” She shrugged her shoulders and got up. Taking away the aid box and rubbish, she went to work putting it all in their proper places while Sirius and Remus sat themselves down at the kitchen table.

“So, Severus, what happened?” asked Sirius as he put his chin in his hands and stared at his friend over the yellow laminate tabletop between them.

Severus scowled, grimacing right after as he tugged at his hurt lip. “Nothing,” he said.

“Come on, that’s not true,” chided Remus as he picked up his milk glass and finished it off.

Severus’s shoulders hunched up near his ears as he looked away from them and said, “I’m not talking about it.”

“Did you apparate into something?” asked Sirius, refusing to just drop the subject like Severus wanted (and he probably ought to)

His friend’s eyes snapped to him, his expression was incredulous. “Did I…?” he shook his head and sneered, “No, I’m not a dunderhead like you.”

“Absolutely not!” scolded Hope as she appeared at the end of the table with two more glasses and a plastic pitcher filled with the same chocolate milk Remus had been drinking. “We do not insult others in this house,” she said to Severus with a hard stare.

“…Sorry,” said Severus in a hushed voice after his shock faded.

Hope nodded, but pointed out, “You should say that to Sirius, not me.”

“Yeah, Severus,” joined in Sirius with a smile. Tone teasing, he told Severus, “I’m the one whose feelings were hurt here.”

Severus rolled his eyes. “Sorry,” he said.

“It’s all right,” replied Sirius. “No lasting harm.”

Severus huffed and Hope, who’d moved onto pouring them glasses of milk remarked, “Well, if you truly don’t want to talk about what happened, Severus, how would you boys like a snack?”

“Sure, Mum, that’d be nice,” agreed Remus on their behalf.

Standing back up, Hope nodded. “Here, I’ll fix you three a platter,” she said. Gesturing to the next room, she suggested, “Remus, why don’t you show Severus where he and Sirius’ll be sleeping tomorrow night quick?”

Remus stood up. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “Come on, let’s go. It’ll take just a minute.”

Severus looked at Sirius and Sirius stood up. “It’s nice,” he assured his friend as they followed Remus out of the kitchen and into the hallway. “Not at all like my parents’ guest rooms. Those are just _garish_.”

-o-O-o-

Somewhere above his head, Sirius could hear Hope singing along to a record by one of her favorite musicians. This one, if he was right, was Doris Days. She was a singer Hope had grown up listening to, her own mother having been a fan back in the day. Remus liked her too, Sirius thought, since he occasionally hummed along to the choruses of her songs.

Sirius peaked over at Severus. He was on the lounge room’s cozy persimmon colored sofa, eyes focused on the world outside the window to the right of them. As for Sirius, he probably should be paying closer attention to the game of Cluedo he was playing with Remus on the room’s coffee table. However, his friend seemed to be in the midst of debating who the killer was and how they did it, and paying little mind to Sirius in the process. He was okay with that. Sirius was pretty sure he’d messed up at some point in the game and had no idea who the killer was or what the murder weapon may be.

Honestly, he’d been having trouble enjoying the game from the start. Something about murder mysteries just didn’t appeal to him anymore. Maybe it was because he was reading about the occasional old classmate or parent of a current housemate dying in the paper these days. Or perhaps because he’d committed murder (even if it was self-defense) and knew just how un-fun it truly was. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. A glance at the wristwatch he was wearing told him any minute James, Lily, and Peter would be coming through the floo. 

“I think I got it,” said Remus.

Sirius smiled at his friend. “Oh yeah?” he asked.

The other boy nodded, but before he could voice his guess, the living room’s fire flared up into high, green flames. Sirius hurried to his feet alongside Remus as Severus rose from the sofa. A moment later, out of the flames first came James, then, Lily. It took all of a second for Sirius to see they were holding hands. He glanced at Severus. He was scowling. 

To distract the couple from Severus’s glower, as well as give his mate a moment to compose himself, Sirius swung around the sofa and pulled James into a brusque, unnecessary hug. As he hoped, James was forced to let go of Lily’s hands to return the embrace. “I saw you barely more than an hour ago, but okay,” said James.

Sirius laughed and pulled away. “Aw, you know me,” he replied, flippant.

“Hello, James, Lily,” Remus said, also coming around to meet the pair.

“Hi, Lily,” Sirius added, looking around James and at the girl. 

Her lips twitched with a smile. “Hi, Sirius.”

Sirius was surprised when Severus actually came around the sofa to join them too. He wasn’t scowling anymore, but he was clearly not excited either. In fact, he looked quite bored. Sirius noticed James tense from the corner of his eye. He was going to lean in and hiss at him to behave, but he actually sounded very civil as he said to Severus, “Snape.”

“Potter,” returned Severus with a cool look.

Lily, who’d been exchanging pleasantries with Remus, finally looked at Severus head-on for the first time since arriving. Her hands went to cover the lower half of her face. When she removed them a moment later, she stepped away from James’s side and right in Severus’s personal space. 

Reaching up, her fingers hovered around the cut on Severus’s lip. To Sirius, it didn’t look so bad anymore. It was even scabbed over, making it seem old instead of new. “Oh, Severus, what happened?” said Lily as if it was fresh and pulsing. She bit her lip. “Did your dad—”

“—I’m fine,” cut in Severus in a low, calm tone. He lifted a hand of his own and used it to gently push away Lily’s still fluttering fingers.

Sirius, however, had both his curiosity and concern piqued. “What’s this about your dad?” he demanded, leveling Severus with a look. Severus had made it sound like him and his dad wouldn’t have any problems this summer because he could do magic anywhere now. Was that not true?

“ _I’m fine_ ,” insisted Severus, eyes flinty and daring someone to say anything more.

“I thought he stopped,” said Lily, ignoring the clear danger-signals emanating from the teenager. “You said he stopped once we started at Hogwarts,” hissed Lily, teeth clenched and brows pulled together.

“I _said_ he hadn’t done anything,” grumbled Severus, eyes now on his feet and shoulders once again by his ears. “Not that he stopped, though,” he continued, “I simply got better at getting away.”

James, who Sirius could feel was still tense when he brushed against him, exploded in a way. He surged past Sirius before he could grab him and got between Lily and Severus. His arms crossed, he demanded, “Can one of you explain what in Merlin’s name the two of you are talking about?”

Lily and Severus glared at each other for a long moment and Sirius wondered if he shouldn’t try and come up with something to say to diffuse whatever the Hell was going to happen next. He’d wrangled a promise out of James to behave today ages ago, but Sirius was pretty sure it was null already. Severus and Lily were if not rowing, about to, and James _would_ be backing up his girlfriend.

Before he could reach a decision, Lily told _all_ of them, “Severus’s dad hurt him, and, apparently, _still_ does.”

“Lily!” snarled Severus, eyes blowing wide and one hand going for where his wand was on him.

Sirius couldn’t hesitate anymore. He moved. Sirius almost bowled over James and Lily to get to Severus before James realized where Severus was reaching. Slinging an arm around the other boy’s neck, Sirius dragged Severus a couple of steps back from Lily and James. He lowered his arm from around Severus’s neck to his shoulders and gave him a brief squeeze. Keeping his tone light, he said, “That’s what happened, huh?” In spite of his tone’s levity, he remarked with very pointed words to Severus, “I thought you said he wasn’t going to cross you now that you can use your wand outside of Hogwarts.”

For a beat, it seemed Severus was going to clam up and refuse to speak, then, Sirius felt his shoulders loosen with a silent exhale. “…I miscalculated,” he admitted, voice rough. “He tried to convince me to quit school and go to work at the factory like a ‘normal’ person. I insulted him in the process of saying not on his life and he lept at me before I could draw my wand.” Severus lifted his chin, baring his teeth at all of them in a malicious smirk. “I got him back.”

“You can stay all summer if you want,” blurted Remus after their collective shock at Severus’s words faded.

“What?” sputtered Severus, blinking at Remus.

Remus offered him a tentative smile. “My parents won’t mind.”

“I’m not staying,” said Severus, frowning at Sirius’s friend.

“You could stay at my house. We’ve got plenty of room,” suggested James, running a distracted hand through his already mused hair. He flashed a smirk at the both of them and added, “Sirius too, who, I know, you like.”

Sirius grinned back in response. He was delighted to see all of his hard work drawing parellels between him and Severus had an effect on his mates. They'd listened to him and now not only agreed Severus needed a safe place away from his dad, but were opening doors to their own homes to Severus without Sirius's prompting!

Severus bristled, clearly affronted by their offers. “I will not,” spat Severus. “I will go back to Spinner’s End!”

Sirius wished he could pretend to feel half as baffled as Remus looked or as insulted as James did. Really, though, he got it all too well. Severus thought he was being _pitied_ right now. Severus, much like him, despised people feeling sorry for him. Yeah, their families sucked, but they didn’t want or need help to deal with them because they could handle their parent(s) just fine.

He knew that wasn’t what was going on here. Like their parents, James and Remus just wanted to right wrongs they saw. They didn’t feel badly for Severus (well, they did, but that was not the only reason they were offering their homes). Severus didn’t understand that, though. He didn’t know them the way Sirius did, didn’t know there was so much more behind their offers than just guilt for how much Severus’s dad sucked.

“Severus, don’t,” begged Lily, stepping toward him to grab the hem of his too-short sleeve. “You don’t need to.”

He pulled his arm away from her in a terse, but not cruel way. “I will not be a charity case for anyone!” he snapped.

Remus’s expression turned pinched. “You wouldn’t be a charity case, okay? You’d be a guest.”

“No!” he snapped.

“Severus,” Lily tried again.

He thrust his nose into her face and hissed, “What about my answer was not clear?”

Sirius decided that was enough. A look up told him Remus had James’s arm in a bone-white grip. Grabbing the back of Severus’s collar, he yanked him away with a sharp, but bright, “Hey!” Keeping his hand on Severus, he looked from him to Lily, and then Remus and James. “Why don’t we calm down?” he suggested, finding the words strange on his tongue. He was not used to being a peacemaker and wasn’t sure he liked it. “We can discuss this again later.”

“ _Never_ ,” muttered Severus beneath his breath. 

Sirius decided to not say anything to that. Instead, he looked around, realizing for the first time Peter hadn’t come with James and Lily. That was a little odd. He’d been sure their last mate would come with the two. “Erh, right. Where’s Peter?” He stared at James. “He didn’t come with you?”

His friend shook his head. “He told me he’d be coming by disapparation,” said James. “He was visiting his Muggle grandparents this week.”

“Brill,” replied Sirius, heading for the kitchen to look out the picture window. “You think he got lost?” he called out as he pulled the window’s curtain back.

“He knows the way here better than Severus and Severus got here nearly on time,” commented Remus as he joined Sirius. Together, they peered outside and saw that Peter was outside. So was Joan, and her sister, as well as Remus’s mum. Squinting, Sirius saw on Hope’s wrist was her purse. She must have been heading out for something when Peter, Joan, and Janice showed up.

“They’re here!” yelled out Sirius as he left the window to jog for the front door. The others followed, Severus a little faster than the rest. 

Sirius was sure he was excited to see Joan, even if he’d never admit to it. Sirius knew they wrote frequently to each other, possibly more frequently than he and Severus hung out together at Hogwarts. They were good mates, possibly closer than the two of them. He also knew it’d been inviting her to this camp-out that cinched his agreement to this long weekend at the Lupins’. 

Opening the front door, they all filed out. Peter and Joan looked in their direction and Sirius saw the girl’s eyes widen when they landed on Severus. When she saw him, however, her cheeks rosied and she dropped her gaze to the ground. Joan looked really nice, Sirius thought. Her hair was shiny and the yellow blouse she was wearing showed she’d filled out a bit into a more womanly shape since he last saw her. She didn’t look like some urchin kid anymore, but a fit girl. One he _really_ would like to know better.

“Joan,” said Severus, passing Sirius to stand in front of the girl. 

She looked up, fingers in her hair while Janice watched on with leery eyes. “Hi, Severus,” she replied. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t think you would be quite so tall.”

“Tall,” he echoed, seemingly miffed. Sirius joined him then, making sure to stand straight beside Severus. 

Voice teasing, he said, “Oh, Sev’s about average, I’d say.” He pointed his thumb at his chest. “ _I’m_ tall.”

Severus scowled at him while Joan appeared to relax a little bit. “The pictures Janice and Jack showed me in their old yearbooks just didn’t do you justice,” she said to Severus. “I’m really excited to be here and have my first nice camping experience.”

“It’s going to be better than nice!” said Sirius. “Tonight will be _wicked_.” Grinning, he leaned in close and whispered, “The best part is you can use an inside-loo when you have to pee in the middle of the night.”

She giggled at that.

Janice seemed to decide then was an appropriate time to interrupt as she cleared her throat. “Sirius, Snape,” she said, putting out her hand. Both of them took turns and shook it. “I trust you’ll take good care of her?” she demanded.

“Yeah,” replied Sirius, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. This wasn’t some dangerous overnight in the Forbidden Woods. They were going to be sleeping in an enchanted Muggle tent in sight of an actual house with a pair of very mature adults a shout away. Joan didn’t need anybody looking out for her. Just some encouragement to relax a bit now and again he was going to bet.

Severus, however, took her request a lot more seriously. “We promise,” he told Joan’s sister. 

The strain around Janice’s eyes disappeared. “Brill,” she said. Turning to Hope, she shook hands with her too. “Thanks again for doing all this,” she said. “It’s great you’re willing to host all these kids. I know my mates’ parents wouldn’t have let so many of us stay over, even if it was in their garden.”

Hope smiled. “Honestly? We’re over the moon being able to do this.” Eyes clouding, she murmured, “When Remus was little after he…” She shook her head and stopped herself from saying more. Not that it mattered. Janice and Joan knew Remus was a werewolf. So did he, Peter, and Severus too. It was undoubtedly hard to voice all the same for Hope, though. “Tonight is more than our wildest dreams for Remus once were.”

Janice’s eyes shimmered. “We’re on the same broom,” she said. “This is more than we ever hoped for Joan.”

“Janice…” muttered said girl.

Sirius’s old housemate forced a laugh and smile. “Sorry,” she said to Joan. Reaching out, she gave her sister a hug. “I’ll be back before noon tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too,” replied Joan, squeezing her sister back. 

When they let go of each other, Janice exchanged goodbyes with the rest of them before walking a few steps away and disapparating. When she was gone, Hope turned to them and said, “I just need to go buy some more butter. I’ll be back soon.”

“Yeah, no problem,” assured Sirius. “We won’t burn your house down.”

Hope leveled him with a playful glare. “Just to be safe, don’t start any fires while I’m gone, hm?”

Sirius laughed. “Sure, Hope,” he agreed. He, and Peter, waved at her as she got in her car parked in the drive, and drove off to the store. When she was fully gone from sight, he said to Peter, “Nice to see you, mate.”

“You too, Sirius,” replied Peter with a smile.

Signaling over to James, Lily, and Remus who were draped in various poses on the front steps of the Lupin home, he said, “Let’s all go out to the garden. You all can put your stuff down in the tent and then we can play one of the yard games I know Remus has. What was that one we played last summer? Crocket?”

“Croquet,” corrected Remus as he, Lily, and James joined up with him, Severus, Peter, and Joan. “You might know it, Lily, Severus.”

“It does sound familiar,” agreed Lily as their group walked up to the fence separating the back garden from the front of the Lupins’ home. “It has mallets and balls, right?”

“Yes,” said Remus as he opened the garden gate, letting them all through. “I think we have enough mallets we can all play at once…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you enjoy Sirius and Severus's start to their long weekend with the Lupins? 
> 
> Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts with comments and/or kudos :)


	3. III

Lupin took them to the back of his house. His family's garden was much larger than anyone's garden in Cokeworth. There was no fence around it, but the back was bordered by a scattering of trees that became a forest the further back you traveled. In the garden, there was a clothesline, small vegetable allotment, and shed that was once white, but now was peeling and revealing aged gray wood beneath.

Set up a little way away from the shed and closer to the trees was the tent Severus assumed they would be sleeping in. It was a Muggle tent made of navy blue fabric and looked utterly mundane. Severus was sure it was the furthest thing. Lupin led them over and pulled back the flap. He smiled at them and said, "This is the tent we're all sleeping in."

"All of us?" asked Joan, surprised.

He nodded. "Go inside, you'll see," he encouraged her. "It's plenty big enough for you girls to have a side and us another."

Joan hesitated briefly but soon followed Lupin's suggestion. She took off her knapsack and crawled in. From inside, she called out, "You're right!"

Lily stepped forward and crouched down to poke her head in it also. Severus could hear her gasp in delight at what she found. When she came out, her eyes were bright and glittering. "I love that it's still a tent inside."

Potter made a face at Lily's comment. "Really? You _like_ that?" he said, incredulous. "It's just an empty room made out of cotton."

Lily patted the bespectacled boy's arm. "Your magical tents are nice, James, but I think it takes away from what camping is supposed to be."

"What's camping supposed to be?" asked Sirius, joining in on the conversation as Joan climbed out of the tent and came to stand among them. She seemed interested in Lily's answer too. While Joan no doubt had more experience with camping than any of them, Severus suspected she wouldn't see it that way.

"About living simply for a bit," said Lily.

Potter hooked an arm around Lily's waist and Severus couldn't stop himself from frowning. "I think we could give that a try some time," he suggested, fingers dancing up and down her side.

Lily, huffing good-naturedly, told Potter, "You'd hate it, James."

"No, I wouldn't!" he denied, brows furrowed.

"She's right," joined in Sirius, smirking at Potter. He glanced over at Severus, expression impish. "You're too posh."

" _I'm_ too posh?" sputtered Potter, hand falling from Lily's side and coming to rest on his hip while he ran his other through his already disarrayed hair. "Sirius, really?"

Severus decided he wanted to help Sirius. "He did survive in a forest without a tent or wand," he reminded the other.

Sirius barked a laugh and pointed at James. "Yeah!" he yelled, triumphant. "I did, so, there, James!"

"Ugh, could you be more childish?" complained Potter.

Sirius grinned widely. "Is that a challenge?"

"Merlin, no!" decried Potter, gaping at Severus's friend.

Lupin cleared his throat, drawing the eyes of the squabbling pair, but everyone else too. "Should we play that Croquet game?" he suggested.

Joan answered for all of them. "Yes, please," she said, decisive.

-o-O-o-

After a couple of rounds of croquet, where Lupin won the first game and Joan and Peter tied in the second one, Severus heard the back door of the Lupin's home open. A moment later, Lupin's mother stepped out.

She was wearing a powder blue apron over her dress and in her hands was a wide white tray holding a plastic pitcher of a yellow drink and a plate of biscuits. She was an image of blissful domesticity. Severus did not know if he trusted it. He'd seen many women put on an act of being a happy homemaker when they were anything but. Mrs. Lupin surely couldn't truly be content, could she?

Sever glanced at Lupin. Her son was a werewolf. Yet…

The smile that dimpled her cheeks did not have any of the tells of falsity he was all too familiar with from the fake grins his housemates wore and his mother had given him growing up. She seemed genuine in her joy and as she came down the steps into her family's garden, it shined even brighter when she placed the tray on the table set up outside.

"Boys! Girls! I have some lemon squash and biscuits for you all," she called to them, the freckles on her arms shining brightly in the afternoon's sun.

Sirius and the other boys quickly dropped their croquet mallets and hurried over to the woman. Severus exchanged glances with Joan and Lily. Lily shrugged at him and followed the lead of her fellow Gryffindors, Severus, and Joan doing the same after her. In a more sedate, dignified manner, they joined the boys and Mrs. Lupin at the table. She was passing out glasses of lemon squash and laughing at something one of Sirius's mates had said to her.

When Lily squeezed into the spot between James and Peter, she was quickly handed a glass of her own. "Thank you, Mrs. Lupin," she said. "This looks so lovely."

Mrs. Lupin smiled at Lily. "Hope, dear," she told her.

Much as he'd reacted earlier, Lily froze. "Um," she mumbled.

The woman sighed. "Mrs. Lupin is fine too," she said, smile dimming ever so slightly as she put a glass of lemon squash in Joan's hand.

Lily nodded, relieved. "Thank you."

As Severus accepted a glass himself from Mrs. Lupin, she shook her head apparently baffled. "You and Severus are both so formal!" she commented. Placing the nearly empty pitcher down, she told them, "I must say, it's quite a surprise. The boys were all very excited when I told them to call me Hope the first time I met them."

Lily looked at him. He very pointedly began to drink from his glass. He didn't really care for how sweet the drink was, but if it meant he wouldn't have to be the one to try and explain their reluctance, Severus would drink jugs of the stuff. Realizing what he was doing, Lily knitted her brows and glared briefly at him. Then she exhaled and returned her attention to Lupin's mother.

"Erh, yeah, sorry," she began. Slowly, she explained, "It's just… different… to have an adult want us to call them by their first name. Back home, adults are always droning on about respect." Seemingly getting lost in reveries of the dirty little place they'd soon have to return to finish the summer, Lily grumbled, " _Especially_ toward elders. It was important we always call someone Mr. or Mrs. and if you didn't…" she trailed off and began to fidget with her wand. "Well, Cokeworth is small enough. You could trust your parents would hear about it."

"Some didn't even bother with that," Severus decided to add, finally taking his drink away from his lips. He'd gotten cuffed around the ear more than once as a boy for some infraction by a neighbor.

Lily nodded in agreement. "Did you ever run into old Mrs. Hughes?" she asked, pulling a face. "One time, 'Tuney tripped in front of her house and into her flowers. Mrs. Hughes saw it happen and then came out and yelled at her! For _tripping_. She then made Petunia stay and fix them instead of helping her clean up her scraped knees."

Severus, thankfully, had never had an issue with that bat. She lived on Barber Lane, a road Severus had never felt compelled to explore or had any need to traverse. It didn't mean he was ignorant of her. "I heard about her," Severus said. "The children on Spinner's End all knew to stay well away from her house." He tilted his head to the side, considering. "She hates children, I think."

Mrs. Lupin's expression was sympathetic, but those of Potter, Lupin, and Sirius were shocked. Pettigrew appeared nervous while Joan's face was caught between wistfulness and sadness. "That's actually terrible you two," said Sirius like the posh pureblood he was. Severus was certain he'd never spent his summer days roving around his neighborhood doing chores for neighbors, getting into scrapes with other children, and climbing trees in the undeveloped land behind his local old mill.

Lily laughed at his absurd remark. "It's not that bad," she assured the three. "There were only a few adults like that and most everyone knew who they were."

"She's right," Severus said. He put his empty glass down and crossed his arms and drawled, "Really, if you got into trouble with them it was your own fault."

"Sounds like the little village I grew up in," murmured Mrs. Lupin, eyes faraway.

Lupin gaped at her. "Really, Mum?"

She blinked. Then, the woman chuckled and nodded. "Oh yes, the children there all knew which homes to stay away from because of their nasty occupants," she said. " That is, unless…" she trailed off.

"Unless what?" asked Potter, leaning in, already wide eyes made bigger by his glasses acting as magnifying glasses.

Mrs. Lupin only smiled at them, secret amusement dancing in her eyes. Severus realized then she was hoping for one of them to guess. Before Sirius could come up with a stupid one, Severus put his into the hat.

"Unless you were looking to cause trouble?" he offered up.

Hope laughed. "Well done, Severus!" she complimented. Smiling right at him in a way that made him want to be anywhere else, she said, "Aren't you clever?"

"It's how it is in Cokeworth," he replied, shrugging his shoulders to rid himself of the uncomfortable feeling washing over him. Not that it was a bad one, he almost felt as if he'd won at something. However, he hadn't. He'd just made a good guess.

"All the same," she persisted. Then, in an encouraging tone, she told Severus and Lily, "You two take your time. Mrs. Lupin is fine. Though, really, I do like Hope." She grinned widely, making the dimples in her cheek pronounced. "It makes me feel less like an old lady."

Lupin frowned. "You're not old, Mum."

She reached out to her son and briefly grasped Lupin's chin. "Oh, you are so sweet," she said. "But you will have to tell that to my crow's feet."

"Ergh, stop," complained Lupin, pulling away from his mother's gentle grip.

She simply laughed and picked up the pitcher. Topping off all their glasses with the last of the liquid inside, she then declared, "I'll be inside if you all need me."

"Thanks, Hope!" Sirius yelled after her retreating back. She waved once before going back inside, shutting the door behind her and leaving them all alone once more.

"What should we do now?" asked Potter, biting into a biscuit. Through a full mouth, he said, "We've finished croquet twice over."

"Flying?" offered up Sirius as he took two biscuits from the plate.

Severus did not enjoy riding brooms. He found them too temperamental. "No," he replied.

"Yeah, is there something else we can do?" Joan piped up, looking between them all. She bit her lip a moment. "I'm not very good at it yet."

"Okaaay," said Sirius, stretching out the word. He stuffed a biscuit in his mouth and chowed down on it as the rest of them remained silent. Severus didn't have much of a preference. Beyond not flying, anyway. Soon enough, Sirius swallowed. He frowned at them all. "Well?" he demanded.

Lupin scratched the back of his neck and looked in the direction of his family's shed. "We might have something in the shed?" he offered. "I could look."

Pettigrew, who had been fidgeting for some time, piped up, "We should play a game."

"What game, Pete?" asked Potter as he took another biscuit from the plate and then a sip of his drink of lemon squash.

Pettigrew stilled. "Um."

"I know!" declared Lily, snapping her fingers.

Potter favored her with a far too indulgent smile for Severus's taste. "All right," he said. "What game do you have in mind, Lily?"

She looked at Severus, eyes alight with familiar impishness. He stood a little straighter to prepare himself. "Simon Says," she declared.

"Sorry?" replied Potter, blinking.

Lily grinned at the bespectacled boy before turning her head to look at him fully. "You remember it, don't you, Severus?" she asked. "We played it with Petunia sometimes."

He did. The memories were not entirely fond. "I remember her making impossible commands to make us lose," he said.

Her smile fell, but was quickly replaced with a raised chin and, voice determined, said, "Well, it'll be different this time." She cast an assessing gaze over the others. "The boys and Joan won't do that, will they?"

"Uh, no?" offered Lupin, seemingly baffled by their talk. Severus found himself a little befuddled. Lupin's mother was Muggle, was she not?

Sirius turned up his hands to the sky and gave a sheepish shake of his head. "Sorry, Lily, but I don't think most of us know this one."

Lily blinked. "Wizards and witches are really missing out then," she remarked. Then, grinning anew, she leaned forward and told the group, "It's really simple. Someone is the leader and they give orders like 'Simon says jump up and down.' You have to do that until they command you not to. If they give a command without saying Simon says first and you do it, you're out. Or if you fail to do what they command when they say Simon says."

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "Sounds silly."

"It's fun," insisted Lily. Severus wasn't entirely in agreement with that, but it'd been a decent way to pass the muggy summer days in Cokeworth once.

"A round can't hurt, right?" spoke up Potter, which won him Lily's kind gaze.

Lupin, Sirius, and Pettigrew exchanged a look. Then, Sirius said for all of them, "Right!"

"Lily, you should be the leader," said Lupin as he set down his nearly empty glass on the table. As everyone else finished their drinks and put down their glasses, he added, "This is your idea."

"Sure!" agreed Lily as she walked away from the table and toward an open part of Lupin's garden.

-O-

Unlike with their games of croquet, Simon Says carried on for a ridiculously long time. Even after Lily began to give commands in rapid-fire after nearly twenty minutes of playing, Severus and Lupin managed to remain in the game. It was at that point in Simon Says she began to give more and more complex commands.

Following a series of demands for them to do cartwheels and somersaults across the Lupins' garden, Lily paused in her orders. It gave Severus and Remus a chance to catch their breaths. It was not the hottest day this summer, but the sun was shining down on them now. Severus wiped a trail of sweat from his forehead with his shirt while Lupin flopped back into the grass, arms and legs spread out.

"Okay," called out Lily, drawing them to pay attention to her once again. Her expression was thoughtful as she began to tap her fingers on her thigh. Finally, she broke into a grin and yelled, "Simon says… Do a handstand!"

Severus didn't hesitate. Bending over, he lifted himself off the ground with his hands. He looked over to see Lupin doing the same. He glared at the other boy. "You know how?"

" _You_ know how?" said Lupin, giving him a glower of his own.

He made an expression of incredulity at Lupin. Of course he bloody knew. There'd been ample time and space to learn such tricks in Cokeworth. "What do you think there was to do in Cokeworth?" he asked. "Has Lily never described it to you?"

Lupin balanced himself on one hand and gestured out to the expanses before them. "What do you think there was for me to do out here?" he asked, sounding nearly as peeved as Severus himself. "The town was an hour bike ride away when I was a kid and our closest neighbor is an old farmer and his wife."

Severus continued to scowl at Lupin. As they continued their handstands, locked in a staring contest with blood rushing to their heads, the others began to discuss around them who'd be the first to admit defeat. Severus could feel himself growing light-headed, but he would not be the first to give up if he had any say.

In the end, he did not have much say at all. Not longer than a minute later, a voice boomed across the yard, "You lot look like you're having fun."

Startled by the shout, he tensed, only for his arms to give out. Tucking in on himself, he rolled forward onto his back. "Shit!" he swore.

"Remus wins!" cried Potter.

Severus sat up and glared at Lupin as he smoothly came out of his handstand and stood up. The girls, Lily in front of them, Joan behind clapped. Pettigrew cheered along with Potter from where they were next to Joan. As for Sirius, he put his fingers to his mouth and whistled obnoxiously. Lily, who stood beside him, winced at the volume.

As they congratulated Lupin on his lucky win, a man in a robe and tie approached. Severus hurried to his feet. The man looked very much like Lupin. Older, with gray in the short beard he wore, and more filled out than his lanky son, but his features were shy of identical. Lupin had the shape of his mother's face and her chin. He smiled at them all, eyes scanning over himself, Lily, and Joan in particular.

"Wins?" he said, drawing them into conversation with him.

"We were playing Simon Says, Mr. Lupin," explained Joan, fiddling with the end of one of her plaits she had her hair in.

"Ah," he replied. Mr. Lupin walked nearer and put his hand out for her."You must be Joan?"

She took his hand after a split-second of unease. "Yes, I am," she answered. Shaking it with more confidence than she took it, she smiled at Lupin's father. "It's a pleasure."

"Nice to meet you," he said. Mr. Lupin then took back his hand and turned around to face Lily. His smile was wider when looking at her. Severus assumed it was because he knew more of her, and possibly been shown pictures. "Lily?"

"Yes, sir," said Lily, wrapping her hand around Mr. Lupin's and giving it a decisive shake.

"My, you girls are polite," complimented Mr. Lupin. He stroked his beard and cast a mirthful smirk on the boys. "I'm glad the boys have you around. They might just turn into gentlemen yet!"

"Dad," complained Lupin, crossing his arms across his sweaty chest.

Mr. Lupin paid him no mind and, finally, he turned to look at Severus. He held his breath when the man's pale gaze met his own. "And you, you're Severus I assume?" he asked in a cooler tone, but still polite.

"I am, sir," agreed Severus, putting out his hand for the man. He grasped it and shook it once with a grip just shy of too tight. Severus didn't want to, but felt compelled to mumble, "Thank you for allowing me to stay the weekend."

This appeared to surprise the wizard. "You're welcome," said Mr. Lupin. He smiled then and it did not look entirely fake. "We're happy to have you here."

"Did you just get back from the Ministry?" asked Pettigrew.

Mr. Lupin nodded at him. "I did," he answered. He put his hands on his hips and looked at them all with a smile. "I thought I'd pop back and say hello before I go in."

"It was nice seeing you, Lyall," offered Sirius in an all too chipper tone.

The wizard chuckled. "I'll come out with the sausages and marshmallows in another hour and a smidge, all right?" he said.

"Brill!" exclaimed Potter. "You're the best, Lyall."

The man waved off the compliment and turned toward the backdoor of his house. "Ah, you kids," he said. "See you soon," promised Mr. Lupin before walking in and to his wife, who Severus glimpsed on just the other side of the door. When it closed, Severus could just make out his shape and that of his wife's through the door's windowpane and sheer curtain. They were in an embrace.

It was a strange sight to his eyes. It was unusual in his life to see two adults greet each other so warmly. He glanced over his shoulder at Lupin, who was talking animatedly with Pettigrew and Joan now. How was it that his parents could hold so much affection for one another?

Why did his Muggle mother not resent his wizard father for all he could not give her despite his talent? For the strife he'd brought upon their family by opening their family to the likes of Fenrir Greyback? Why were they happy when his own parents could hardly look at each other most days before his mother's death?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think of the marauders, Severus, Lily, and Joan's afternoon together? Their interactions with Mrs. and Mr. Lupin?
> 
> Thank you for reading, I appreciate it! Let me know what you think with a comment and/or kudo :)


	4. IV

A little while after Lyall said hello, James looked up at the yellowing sky and turned to them and said, “Okay, it’s going to be dark in an hour.” He crawled into the tent and just as Sirius was going to poke his head in and ask what his mate was up to, James came out, racing broom in hand. “If we’re going to fly around today we need to go now.”

Remus came up alongside Sirius. From the corner of his eye, he saw Remus smile at James as he said, eager, “Yeah, I’ll get mine and Dad’s from the shed.” He turned his head to look at Peter behind them where he was still sitting and talking with the girls and Severus. “Pete, you like Cleansweep brooms, right?” he questioned.

Sirius didn’t need to look from James to know Peter was nodding his head. “Yeah, that’s what Mum has,” he replied.

Remus stepped in front of Sirius briefly as he made a beeline for his family’s shed. “You can ride Dad’s then,” he called to their friend. He paused a moment in his task and turned around to look at them all. One hand on his hip, he glanced from Sirius and James to Severus, Peter, Lily, and Joan. “Are we doubling up riders or taking turns?” he asked.

Sirius answered on everyone’s behalf. “We’ve got our brooms plus Old Monty’s,” he told them. It still wasn’t enough for everyone to have a broom, but at least all of the blokes would. Sirius was sure Lily would be happy enough to ride with James (or have James ride with her) and Joan would join him or Severus. 

He looked over at Severus. His expression wasn’t exactly excited. Sirius decided to pay that little mind, Severus had a habit of seeming anything but even when he was interested. “You want Monty’s broom, Severus?” he asked. Then, explaining his plan to everyone, he said, “The girls can ride with me and James.” Smirking at Joan, he joked, “Not to brag, Joan, but we’re probably the best flyers here, being on Gryffindor’s quidditch team and all.”

Abruptly, Severus’s expression turned from disinterest to outright disdain. “No,” he said.

Sirius huffed and crossed his arms. “No?” he repeated, sneering. “What do you mean no!”

Severus moved and sat down in one of the lawn chairs positioned around what would later be their firepit. “I’ll stay here,” he said before reaching into his robe and pulling out a shrunken book and resizing it with a wave of his wand.

He could hardly believe his eyes. Why would Severus turn down the chance to do something as fun as flying? He uncrossed his arms and placed them on his hip. “Come on!” he demanded, stamping a foot for emphasis. “Flying with mates is the best!”

Severus raised an eyebrow at Sirius before he turned his eyes to his book and opened it. As he thumbed through the pages at a leisurely pace, he said, “Brooms are temperamental.”

Sirius frowned. That was true, but only _a little_. Before he could argue this, James jumped in on his behalf and told Severus, “Sure! Some brooms are, but my dad’s is old.” He made a gesture with his arm in the motion of a gush of wind blowing through. “It’s broken in and rides like a breeze.”

Severus raised the book in his hands. “I have this book I’ve been meaning to finish,” he said in a cool tone, but Sirius could tell from the tightness of his eyes he was getting very close to going spare.

Sirius was quiet for a moment. Maybe Severus just didn’t want to be in charge of a broom? That was harder than just riding one. He tilted his head and suggested, “…You could ride with me instead?”

Severus threw his book down in his lap. “Absolutely not!” he roared, causing Joan to jump, and the rest of Sirius’s gang to bristle like they were prepping for a duel. Sirius cringed, mind racing to find a way to cool the situation. 

Lily, thankfully, seemed to be on the same page as him and already in the midst of a plan as she got between Severus and James and Sirius. She was wearing a wide smile fixed to her face by will alone. “You know what?” she cut in with false positivity. “You boys go,” she declared, making a shooing motion at them. “Us girls and Severus will go explore the forest over there a bit.” Her eyes darted over to Remus who was standing some steps away, still having not finished his trip to his dad’s shed. “That’s safe, right, Remus?”

Remus’s expression was briefly one of startlement before he nodded and mumbled, “Er, yeah.”

“Are you sure Lily?” asked James, stepping toward his girlfriend.

As for Sirius, he looked to Joan. She was twisting some split-ends at the end of her plait, expression unsettled. “Joan?” he called, drawing her gaze to him. “Are you okay with this?” he asked. Offering her a smirk, he told her, “We could still take you with us.”

She let her split-ends fall from her fingers. Hands back at her side, she shook her head, mouth curved in a soft return smirk. “No, thanks,” she said. “Being in the sky makes me nervous frankly.”

Sirius supposed he could understand that. Joan had probably not done a lot of flying before she ended up with Greyback and his pack. She might simply be too old to ever enjoy it the way him and the rest of his gang did. Besides, a walk around the forest with Lily and Severus would actually be fun for her, he suspected. Severus was a good mate to Joan as far as he knew and Lily was another girl (who wasn’t her sister) to chat with. “Well, okay,” Sirius replied, shrugging his shoulders to let her know he wasn’t put-off. He waved. “See you three in a bit.”

“Have fun,” Joan told him as Lily swooped in to place a kiss on James’s cheek.

As she and Joan waved them off a few minutes later as they rose into the sky, Severus joined the girls and called up to them, hands around his mouth, “No stupid stunts! None of us are trained healers like Madam Pomfrey.”

James scoffed, but Sirius laughed. It was nice to know Severus cared, even if he was sort of being disagreeable.

-O-

“Do you think he’s afraid of heights?” called out Remus to Sirius while James showed off a tricky maneuver for them and Peter.

Sirius tore his eyes away from James and blinked at the other. “Huh?” he said before the question registered in his mind. He then shook his head at him. “No,” he answered. “I saw him climb a tree when he was eight.” Sirius winced. But what if Severus was actually? It was not like Sirius had _let_ him choose to climb that tree. Also, there were eight whole years between the age he’d been and the age Severus was now. Maybe something had happened in that time to instill a fear. He sighed and admitted to a rather doubtful-looking Remus, “Though, we were kind of surrounded by Greyback and his pack at the time. I also didn’t give him much of a choice…”

Peter who’d been listening to them, but so far hadn’t said anything, offered, “He might have been telling the truth? I mean brooms do have minds of their own sometimes.”

Sirius _supposed_ that could be true. Yet who really wrote off riding altogether over something like that? He glanced over at Remus. He seemed unconvinced too. “Is that really a reason not to want to ride _at all_?” he questioned his friends.

Peter shrugged at him and Remus looked away, raking a hand through his wispy hair. “Maybe it’s just us he doesn’t want to ride with. I mean, you and James can get pretty reckless when you’re racing or are doing stunts,” said Remus.

“…That actually is probably it,” agreed Sirius with some reluctance.

“Perhaps he will when it’s just the three of you then,” suggested Peter, perking up a little and causing his broom to tip forward. He quickly straightened himself out as Sirius exhaled in disappointment and Remus pursed his lips.

“Possibly,” replied Remus, though, he sounded as doubtful as Sirius felt.

Sirius gave James a thumbs up and grin as he finished his trick. As their last friend flew toward them, he said, “I wonder if we should even push. I mean, if we make him cross over little, unimportant things, how are we going to convince him to stay here with you and your parents for the rest of the summer?”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could be that thoughtful, Sirius,” joked James, having caught the tail-end of his words.

Sirius leaned himself and his broom in James’s direction and gave him a light, teasing shove. “Hey! When something matters I am just as capable of seeing the big picture as anyone,” he said.

James laughed and shared a roll of his eyes with Remus and Peter. “Right, mate.”

-o-O-o-

With a nearly preternatural timing, Lyall came out of his home’s backdoor just as Sirius and the others' feet touched the grass. “You lot ready for some supper?” he yelled out, the same tray Hope had earlier in his hands, but laden with sausages and foil-wrapped lumps instead of biscuits and lemon squash. 

All but dropping his broom to the ground, Sirius hurried over to the man with Remus to help him by taking one of the plates off the tray. “You know it!” he said to the man, smiling widely at him. 

“Thanks, Lyall,” James said as he sat down around the fire Severus had probably started when the sun started to disappear behind the trees.

“You’re welcome, James,” replied Lyall as he handed off the skewers to Peter’s open hands. Tucking the tray under one of his arms then, he dipped his chin at them and said, “You’re welcome to pop in if any of you need anything. Hope and I will be in the lounge for at least a couple of hours.”

“Okay,” Lily said to the man, dipping her chin in thanks. “We’ll be quiet if we come in later than that.”

Lyall seemed pleased by her answer as he smiled wider before turning back toward the house and going in.

Soon, the seven of them were gathered, shoulder-to-shoulder, around the little fire. The foil-wrapped lumps had turned out to be potatoes and were cooking in the middle of the flames while Peter passed out the skewers and James held the plate of sausages. “This is great, I don’t remember the last time I had food over a fire,” gushed Lily as James let her have the first pick of the sausages.

“I do!” said Sirius. He shared a smirk with Severus across the flames, where he was squished between Joan and Lily. “Severus and me had a rabbit and squirrel just last fall,” he told them all. Severus just stared back at him blankly while James grimaced and Peter and Remus attempted to return his enthusiasm with smiles. “I bet this will be loads better, though,” he commented as he got to pick a sausage to put on his skewer finally. He laughed to himself as he stuck his sausage in the yellow and orange fire. “There’s no hair.”

There was a brief silence, one of people who didn’t know what to say, followed by Severus commenting, “The rabbit wasn’t terrible.”

He looked up from his cooking sausage and at Severus who gazed back steadily. “No, you’re right,” he agreed with a small grin. Sirius rubbed his chin and felt stubble he knew would need to be shaved off tomorrow if he didn’t fancy growing a beard this weekend. “The squirrel was rather chewy,” he added, thinking back on that day. He shrugged his shoulders. Maybe it hadn’t been tender, but his mouth still watered at the thought of it. “Still I think it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”

Severus snorted and began to prod at the potatoes in the flames with his empty skewer. “You should try being hungry more often,” he muttered.

Sirius puzzled over the words a moment. It dawned on him. “You didn’t like the rabbit and squirrel,” he stated.

Severus’s shoulders hunched up near his ears and Sirius saw Lily’s face turn fully toward Severus, her eyes sharp. “They were fine,” Severus muttered.

Sirius began to laugh. He was lying through his teeth and he remembered why! “Wait, that’s right, you’re _picky_.”

“I am not!” snapped Severus, snarling at him.

Lily’s piercing look faded a little and she gave a small shake of her head. “Severus, you are, though,” she broke in, joining Sirius’s side in their little argument. “I think there’s maybe a dozen meals I know for a fact you’ll actually eat.”

Severus threw his hands into the air and demanded, “Why eat something I don’t know I’ll like?” Looking first at Lily, and then at him, he grumbled, “That’s how you waste food someone else could eat.”

Before Sirius could say anything, Lily groaned into her hands. When she lifted her face from her palms, she said to Severus in an aggrieved tone, “Look, I’ve said it before, but it’s okay to do that sometimes. _Especially_ at Hogwarts where there will always be more food available later for anybody who wants it.”

Severus settled his gaze on the fire. “Hmph,” he replied.

“Right,” said Sirius as he took his sausage from the fire to inspect it. It was a little charred near the end but otherwise had a nice brown coloring to it. His gaze flickered back to Severus, whose own skewer sat empty on his knee instead of in the flames alongside everyone else’s. “Well, you do like sausages, don’t you, Severus?” he asked.

His friend’s fingers twitched on his knees. “I haven’t minded them in the past,” he said, evasive.

“Uh-huh,” he replied, not bothering to hide his distaste for Severus’s answer.

James seemed to take that as his cue to join in on the conversation and gestured with his sausage to the potatoes that were cooking. “Well, if you don’t really like them, there are some potatoes Hope sent out we put in the fire to cook too,” he said. “Those are good, aren’t they?” he asked. He looked around the group, seeming to look for affirmation as he remarked, “I’ve never met a person who hates potatoes.”

Severus’s mouth pulled in a slight frown. “Yes, potatoes are fine,” he replied in a way that had the rest of them exchanging glances.

Remus sighed and stuck his skewer in the soft ground. “Potatoes aren’t really a meal,” he said. “I can go and get you some bread and…” he scrunched his face as he considered Severus. “Marmalade?” he offered, voice lilting with question only to shake his head after. “No, I bet you’re like Mum,” Remus corrected himself. “I can get you bread and marmite from the kitchen if you don’t like any of this.”

Severus scowled at Remus. “Did I not just say sausage and potatoes are fine?” he snapped.

To redirect Severus’s ire away from Remus, Sirius said, “You didn’t sound too enthused there, Severus.”

“What is this sudden concern with whether I eat or not!”

Remus pinned Severus with a hard look. “What kind of host would I be if I didn’t make sure you had something you like to eat?” he demanded.

Severus, instead of being cowed, crossed his arms and his expression became more mulish.

“Mates are also supposed to make sure you don’t go hungry!” added in Sirius, a little exasperated and a little worried. Severus really wasn’t going to _not_ eat to spite them, was he?

Severus shifted in his seat like he was going to stand, but decided against it half a second later. “This is stupid,” he grumbled to the grass. “I’m not going to _starve_ if I just eat a potato tonight.”

“You’ll be hungry, though,” whispered Joan. Sirius held his breath as she laid a hand on their friend’s shoulder. Thankfully, instead of attacking Joan for her gesture, Severus allowed it. “Severus, there were lots of awful things about my time with Greyback and his pack, but always being hungry? I’m so glad that since you and Sirius found me that the always-there, always-hurting feeling is gone and it’s something I only experience in my nightmares now.”

Severus groaned and scrubbed a hand over his cheek. “I am not going to be left in peace until I agree to eat something else, will I?” When everyone simply stared at Severus with various expressions of incredulity, he turned to Remus and grumbled, “If you’re truly committed to being a good host I will accept your offer of bread and marmite.”

Remus wasted no time hopping to his feet. “Sure,” he agreed. Dusting off the seat of his trousers, he asked, “Do you want butter or cheese too? That’s how Mum makes her sandwiches with the stuff.”

Severus hesitated in answering. “I’ve never eaten it with either,” he admitted.

Remus didn’t seem to know how to respond, but Lily had no problem as she easily spoke up and remarked to Severus, “You probably will like it with cheese.”

Severus made an exasperated noise and glowered. “Lily, how do you know?”

She pursed her lips. “It’ll be a better sandwich that way,” said Lily to Severus, then, to Remus, “Remus bring a couple of slices of cheese if you don’t mind.”

“Lily!” hissed Severus, knocking their knees together a little roughly and earning himself a pair of narrowed eyes from James.

Lily knocked his knee right back and lifted her chin. “If you don’t like it, I will eat it, okay?” she snapped.

Severus scoffed. “You hate marmite.”

“Then I will!” proclaimed Sirius. He didn’t enjoy the stuff either, but if it’d end this stupid row they were having, he’d choke it down grinning like a loon.

“… _You_ like marmite, Sirius?” said Severus, tone suspicious and eyes a little too searching for Sirius’s taste.

To make sure Severus couldn’t catch his gaze head-on, he smiled so hard he squinted and vigorously nodded his head.“Yeah! It’s great.”

Severus crossed his arms. “Hmph,” he murmured. He didn’t believe Sirius, but that was fine. He also had no way to disprove his lie either.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” said Remus before jogging off toward his family’s home.

Sirius patted his thighs, satisfied with the coming outcome of their little battle with Severus. “Now that we’ve settled that…” he began glancing around at all of them with a mischievous smirk. “Maybe we should find something to do while we wait for the potatoes and sausages to cook?” he suggested. “Does anyone know any games we can play?”

“Green Glass Door!” proclaimed Lily, clapping her hands together while Severus sank his chin into his own with a small exhale.

He blinked at her. “Sorry?”

“It’s a Muggle game,” she said with a good-humored roll of her eyes. “It’s fun for new players to figure out the trick.”

“I think I know this one,” said Peter in a soft, not quite sure voice.

Lily laughed. “Oh yeah?” she replied. “Don’t give it away then, Pete!” she told him with a playful wag of her finger.

Lily’s smile turned a hair impish as she looked at Sirius and James. “Okay, ready, Sirius? James?” She turned her face to flash an encouraging smile at Joan. “You, Joan?”

He looked over his shoulder. He was actually pretty curious to give this game a go, but Remus was still inside getting something for Severus to eat. “Should we wait for Remus?” he questioned.

She shook her head. “No, he can join in easily.”

“Okay then.”

Lily giggled. “Now, listen!” she half-shouted, hands out in front of her. Taking turns looking at James, Sirius, and then Joan, she said to them, “I’m going on a trip through the green glass door. I can take a bottle, but not a vial. Now, you need to try to figure out why that is.”

“How?” asked James, brows furrowed.

Lily’s smirk widened. “Why don’t you think of something you might want to take through on this trip and ask if it can go through?” she said.

Sirius scratched his chin. “Like what?” he asked. She hadn’t really given any ideas about what kind of trip they were going on. All the same, he threw out a random, but often useful suggestion to bring with you places. “A candle?”

Severus smirked into his fingers as Lily said, “A candle cannot go through!”

“No?” said Sirius, ignoring how both Severus and Peter were hiding laughter. “What about a wand, then?”

“No again!” said Lily followed by Severus and Peter snickering, clearly incapable of holding back their amusement any longer.

James sighed and used a free skewer to poke at the potatoes cooking in the fire to test how they were coming along. “I’m not getting it,” he admitted.

Lily didn’t take pity on them. “Try again, boys,” she insisted.

“What are we doing?” asked Remus as he rejoined them, sitting down back in his spot between Peter and Sirius. “Here, by the way,” he said as he handed a plate with cheese and bread along with a knife and jar of marmite to Severus.

Severus took it. His expression twisted slightly before he mumbled, “Thank you.” Then, apparently feeling kindly toward Remus now that he’d given him something he liked to eat, he explained, “Lily has them playing the green glass door.”

Remus shook his head while Severus undid the lid on the marmite jar. “I don’t know it.”

“It’s a riddle game,” Peter explained between bites of his finished sausage. “Certain things may go through the game’s door, but others cannot.”

“Like what?” questioned Remus, clearly curious. Sirius wasn’t surprised. Remus enjoyed a puzzle now and again.

Peter looked at Lily with a smirk. “Lily, what about boots?” he questioned. “Can they go through?”

She bobbed her head in agreement. “They sure can!”

“What of Joan’s trainers?” asked Severus as he finished spreading the marmite on his bread and placed a slice of cheese on top of it.

Lily laughed. “No!”

“Do you see?” asked Peter, looking at Remus.

Remus scrunched his nose. “I don’t think I do,” he said.

Not deterred by his answer, Peter continued in his examples. “Here, see if this helps you, Remus,” he said. “Lily, could you take a dress through?”

She smiled. “You know it, Pete.”

“But we wouldn’t be able to take robes through, would we?” said Severus.

She nodded and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “No, you wouldn’t.”

“…We’d be dressed very oddly on this trip, wouldn’t we?” asked Joan after a moment, almost giggling herself. “All in boots and dresses!”

“Yeah,” agreed Peter, laughing openly. He looked at Sirius and James and joked, “If you two don’t like the idea of wearing dresses, perhaps you could fix yourselves togas with the bedsheets you can take through.”

Lily snorted. “That’d be even more hilarious, I think,” she said.

Sirius was more confused than before. Why could bedsheets and dresses go through this door, but not something like trousers? “Wait, sheets can go through the door?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Severus stared at him over the fire. “You could too, Sirius.”

“Could?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

Severus nodded. “As Padfoot.”

He tilted his head and crossed his arms. “Only as Padfoot?

“Yes,” agreed Severus.

Joan blinked at Severus. “Huh?” she said. “Really, he could?”

James made a frustrated noise. “This is a strange door,” he complained.

“Not really,” said Severus. He lifted his gaze to Lily. “Lily, Potter could go through as his deer animagus, couldn’t he?”

James shot Sirius a scandalized look, but he shrugged at him. It hadn’t been a leap at all for Severus to figure out if Sirius was an animagus, James and Peter were too. Trying to hide their forms from him seemed silly at that point. “Yep,” said Lily, smiling.

Peter sniggered and his tone was light as he said to Lily, but for his, James, Remus, and Joan’s benefit, “I’d be stuck on the other side if anyone tried to take me through as my rat animagus, though, wouldn’t I?”

“You are right, Peter,” said Lily, pointing at him.

James began to fiddle with his skewered sausage. “I think you’re making fun of us now,” he whined.

“No, we aren’t!” denied Lily. “Severus, won’t you say an easy example?” she demanded of the boy next to her.

He made a put-upon expression. “If I must,” he agreed. Severus ate a bite of his cheese and marmite sandwich before he asked, “Lily, can I take a rabbit through?”

“Yes.”

“What about a hare?” he questioned.

She shook her head, loose hair falling around the front of her shoulders. “No.”

“Those are the same things!” exclaimed James, throwing up his hands.

“What of a rattlesnake?” piped up Remus with a thoughtful light to his pale eyes.

Lily beamed. “Yes.”

“A viper?” he asked then, sitting a little taller as he listened for an answer that would either validate or invalidate whatever theory he was working on.

“No, sorry,” said Lily, palms turned to the quickly blackening sky. Remus didn’t seem upset by this, in fact, a slow smirk worked its way over his face. He was satisfied with her answer.

Sirius chewed his lip briefly. “Is there something different about the snakes?” he asked. Sirius was starting to wonder. Hare and rabbits were really similar but weren’t quite the same thing (even if James did think they were). Vipers and rattlesnakes were sort of in the same boat he thought.

Before Lily could answer, Joan mumbled, “I… I think I get it.”

“Try it then, Joan,” encouraged Severus.

She nodded her head and flicked her plait over her shoulder. “An apple, it can go through this door?” she asked.

Lily laughed, delighted. “Yes, it can.”

“A pear wouldn’t be able to, would it?” she asked, sounding just as certain in whatever she thought the trick was as Remus had just a minute ago.

“No!”

Joan smiled. “I understand.”

“Brilliant, Joan,” praised Lily.

“ _I_ don’t,” huffed James.

Remus chuckled at their friend. “Are you sulking because you can’t figure out a little riddle?”

“No!” denied James.

“You seem as if you are,” teased Peter.

James turned his head away. “I’m not.”

“Hmph,” snorted Severus.

“Come on, don’t give up!” begged Lily. “Joan and Remus got it. You two can figure it out while we eat,” she suggested, reaching into the fire for one of the potatoes with her skewer. “The potatoes are done,” she remarked as she pulled it out and started to unwrap it after casting a light cooling charm on it.

Sirius sighed. They might as well try. He didn’t think Remus or Peter would clue them in later. “Could the potatoes or sausages go through, Lily?” he asked.

She shook her head. Then, she looked over to the table near the house. “But the marshmallows we’ll have later can.”

“Interesting,” he said. He was beginning to wonder if it had to do with the word and not the thing at all.

“Think you have it, Sirius?” asked Remus.

He paused. Did he? Probably not. “Maybe,” he said all the same.

“Try it, then,” urged Peter.

Well, great. He had to think of a thing to go through the door quickly. “Okay,” he said. Taking in a deep breath, he turned his gaze to the now nighttime sky. “Let’s see…”

-o-O-o-

Sirius woke with an inhale. For a moment, he laid still. Sirius was okay, Severus was safe, Joan was safe. Greyback and his pack hadn’t gotten them like in his nightmare. He breathed out and turned his head. On his right, Peter slept soundly. When he glanced left, Sirius saw Severus had an eye cracked open.

He slurred, “Sir’us?”

“I’m okay,” he assured his friend. Pushing a wobbly smile over his face, he explained in a whisper, “Just a nightmare.”

“Hm,” said Severus, eyes opening further.

Sirius reached over and brushed his fingers over the knuckles Severus had peaking over the edge of his sleeping bag. “Go back to sleep,” he urged. “It wasn’t bad, a drink of water and I’ll be asleep again in no time.”

Severus sighed. “‘Mmph,” he mumbled, and, to Sirius’s relief, Severus closed his eyes instead of wrestling himself out of his sleeping bag to follow him. 

He waited until Severus’s breathing was even before he squirmed out of his sleeping bag. Once free, he crept as soundlessly as he could around his friends, out of the tent, and into the breezy night air. Sirius was surprised, upon standing up, to see Joan spread out just steps away in the grass, observing the white stars the same way they observed her.

“Ah, you’re up too?” he asked, awkward.

She turned her eyes from the sky to him. A facsimile of a smirk tugged at her lips. “Sometimes sleeping at night is a little difficult for me,” she admitted.

Sirius was pretty familiar with that feeling these days. Since returning to Hogwarts after his impromptu adventure with Severus and Joan, he’d found somewhere between once or twice a month he’d wake up from a nightmare. In the dreams, he would fail to escape the forest, or Severus and Joan would die by Greyback’s teeth. “Yeah, I can understand that,” he empathized.

Joan sat up, the plaits her red hair was in were swinging at the nape of her neck. “What’s got you up?” she asked.

Sirius didn’t see any good reason to hide the truth. He hadn’t with Severus and he’d mentioned in his letters to her that sometimes he had them. “A nightmare, actually,” he said.

Drawing her knees to her chest, Joan rested her cheek on them and asked, “Oh, you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head. “Not really,” he replied as he decided to plop down next to Joan. Crossing his legs, he explained, “It was about when Severus and me got surrounded by Greyback’s pack.”

She winced and lifted her head to settle her chin on her knees instead. Staring off into the forest behind the tent they were sleeping in, she whispered, “Sorry.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Nah, don’t be. It’s…” he trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe how he felt about what had happened. “I feel bad about it, I won’t lie and say I don’t, but it’s more okay each time?” he said, looking at Joan, trying to gauge whether she got what he was saying or not. She still wouldn’t look right at him, but she was watching Sirius from the corner of her eyes. Joan was being attentive in her listening and that was enough. “It becomes another day behind me, another day forward being Severus’s mate, and I know it was the right choice,” he finished, satisfaction filling him. That was it. What happened sucked but every day after was showing Sirius it was worthwhile.

“It was Sirius,” Joan assured him. “If you hadn’t done what you did, Greyback would have made Severus our plaything for the night and, if he survived, for longer.”

Sirius shivered. He hated whenever Joan said that. Severus had been such a clever boy, to picture him getting stuck with Greyback after being bitten, his rightful life stolen from him, and living a new future so dismal was one of Sirius’s greatest horrors. “Every time I imagine that…” he murmured. He sighed. “There’s not a lot else that’s as quick to turn my stomach.”

She nodded. “He was a cute little boy.”

Sirius almost laughed but quieted it to a snigger. “I don’t know that cute is quite right…”

“Endearing?” she offered, turning toward him with a smile.

Sirius tested the word. “Endearing,” he said. “Yeah,” he agreed, thinking of the little boy his friend had been. He returned Joan’s smile with a grin. “He was that.” 

Joan continued to stare at him, the smile she’d wore lingering on the corners of her lips. “You know, the three of us trying that soda in the pub is one of my top moments,” Joan told him.

Sirius leaned in. “Really?” he said. It had been nice, he would agree, but he hesitated to say it was such a pivotal moment for himself. Meeting Joan, being her friend, Sirius loved it. Yet he would have thought getting her family back would trump then. Curious now, he asked Joan, “What else is a top moment for you?”

She exhaled and looked up. “Seeing Jack and Janice again,” she said, “ getting my wand…” Joan trailed off briefly and she began to twist her fingers in the grass. “Tonight,” she whispered.

Sirius couldn’t help himself. He scooted closer and put one of his hands on top of her fidgeting fingers. “Tonight, huh?”

Joan was stiff next to him and her hand cool beneath his palm. “I’ve never gotten to hang out with a bunch of people about my age and play silly games before,” she admitted.

Sirius leaned back a little and laughed. “That door riddle was something, wasn’t it?”

“Simon Says was rather funny also,” she joined in, smiling at him as she gazed up at Sirius from under her lashes.

“Yeah,” he agreed, reminiscing about earlier in the day. “Who knew Remus would be such a strong contender for Severus? I don’t think Remus has ever played before in his life!”

Joan giggled. “I guess it’s like Janice’s told me, Gryffindors are a competitive lot.”

Sirius snickered. Janice wasn’t wrong. As a whole, their house was pretty fierce. Remus, though, was one of the more laid back people in Gryffindor. He said as much to Joan, “A lot of us are, but Remus has never been that bad.”

“Then I got to see an interesting side of him today, hm?” she teased, smiling widely.

He nodded his head and smiled back. “You really did!”

“…I feel that I should thank you,” said Joan, suddenly serious.

He blinked at her. “Thank me?”

“When you stood up to Greyback, I realized I didn’t have to be his pack anymore,” she explained, eyes on their still overlapped hands. “ I saw that I could help you and Severus and change my whole life.”

He wrapped his fingers around her hand, holding it tight. “Without you, _our_ whole lives would have changed,” he reminded her. Sirius’s mind flashed back to then, to the werewolves surrounding them, how afraid he’d been. 

“It’s because of that day I have Janice and Jack again,” Joan insisted, refusing to take credit for her part in their escape. Her eyes fluttered half-closed. “Because of you,” she whispered.

He glanced away and mumbled, “I don’t know if I’d say tha—” He was stopped mid-sentence by a pair of slightly chapped lips pressing against his parted mouth. Sirius froze. When his friend pulled away, he uttered, surprised, but not upset, “Joan.”

“I think I can sleep now,” she said, gently extracting her now warm hand from him.

“Oh?” he said, trying not to sound disappointed. Maybe she had felt it was a mistake to kiss him. Maybe Joan realized with their kiss she didn’t feel whatever she thought she had for him.

She leaned in again, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek this time. “Sweeter dreams, Sirius,” she murmured as he smiled dumbly at Joan who he could see now was both giddy and embarrassed. He didn’t think she meant to kiss him now. That was okay, though. It had been a nice surprise.

As she got on her hands and knees and pulled back the tent flap, he tugged lightly at one of her plaits. She gazed at Sirius over her shoulder, curious, but still not ready to quite look him in the eye. He wanted to kiss her back, but wasn’t sure now would be the right time. Instead, Sirius settled for placing a hand on her calf and giving it what he hoped was a comforting, grateful squeeze.

“Thanks, you too,” he told her.

She finally met his gaze and he beamed. She returned it with a small smile before disappearing back into the tent. Sirius deliberated following her in before deciding against it. Joan wanted a moment alone. He wanted a moment to think himself. Laying out on the grass much like Joan had been when he first came out of the tent, Sirius sighed.

Sirius had been told pretty much right from the start Joan fancied him. He’d been unwilling to believe it at first. The longer time had gone on, the closer he grew to her through each letter they exchanged, he started to agree that maybe her big eyes hadn’t been just a symptom of hero-worship alone. Tonight had proven once and for all, Joan _did_ fancy Sirius. As for Sirius…

He fancied her too.

Maybe, before school started again, she would agree to a date somewhere. If he was extra lucky, maybe Joan would give him the pleasure of letting him call her his girlfriend. There was no rush either way. The summer days were long and for somebody as brilliant and strong as Joan, he would spend them all showing her he was serious about not just dating her, but being her other half.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit more Sirius centered, so what did you think?
> 
> Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo please :)


	5. V

Severus woke up to the sound of rain tapping on the tent’s ceiling above him. Sitting up, he saw Sirius and his mates were still asleep. It was the girls across the tent who were awake already. They were sitting on Lily’s sleeping bag together, Joan behind Lily, fingers buried in her thick locks combing through it and pulling strands into one kind of plait or another.

Lily flashed him a smile and Joan when she looked to see why the other girl had turned her head, offered her own little smirk to him. He nodded at the two. Looking down to his right he saw Sirius was half out of his sleeping bag, mouth wide open with hair stuck to his cheek. Next to him, Pettigrew was a lump under the quilt he’d brought instead of a sleeping bag with only his tawny-hued hair visible. After Pettigrew were Lupin and Potter. Both deep asleep too. Each was curled on their sides facing one another, faces slack, and at peace in their rest. 

Severus came out of his sleeping bag and stood up. Mindful of Sirius and the rest, he walked gingerly between them before he came to kneel beside Lily and Joan. “Morning,” he said to the two in a murmur.

“Sleep well?” asked Lily in a whisper. 

He nodded.

Joan, half-finished with Lily’s hair now, said, “We haven’t been awake too long.”

“Not interested in venturing out yet?” he asked.

Lily chuckled. “No,” she replied. “It’s quite comfy in here.”

Severus looked around. He wouldn’t have thought it possible to call a tent such, but he thought Lily was right. Thanks to the extensions charms Lupin and his father put on the tent, it was about as large as his bedroom back in Spinner’s End. It was also quite warm and even though it was no doubt gray outside, enough daylight filtered through the fabric of the tent to make everything visible, if dim. “Yes,” he agreed. “It’s pleasant.”

“That’s high compliments coming from him, Joan,” Lily teased, looking over her shoulder at the younger girl.

Joan giggled softly and finished Lily’s hair. “There,” she said. “I’m done.”

Lily’s fingers went and pulled at the end of her new plait. Bringing it to the front of her, she inspected what she could. Smiling, she said, “This is beautiful, thanks, Joan.”

Joan flushed. “It’s no trouble.”

“Let me do yours,” said Lily, turning around. “Your plaits look like they could use it.” She winked. “We’ve got to look nice for our boys, don’t we?”

The girl flushed and bit her lip. “I’m not sure…” she mumbled and one of her hands drifted up to her mangled ear that was just hidden by the styling of her hair.

“Lily is very gentle,” assured Severus. 

The girl continued to fiddle with her ear and dropped her gaze. Lily, for her part, gave him a wide-eyed look of pleading. He sighed. “I would know,” he admitted feeling slightly aggrieved as he did. It was something he made Lily swear to never tell anyone, but here he was giving it away himself. “She plaited my hair several times when we were small and she was learning how to.”

Joan blinked. “Really?” she murmured, looking between the two of them.

Lily, whose expression was a half-smile and grateful, bobbed her head once. “Yes,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Severus, I don’t think I’d be half as good at it now,” she admitted.

The girl seemed a little more agreeable now, but Severus could see she was still worried to let Lily so near her ear, to catch glimpses of other scars. Severus looked behind him. The rest were still deep asleep. “I’ve mentioned before I often wore charity shop clothing,” he told Joan. “Sometimes, if I grew too quickly, I would end up wearing my mother’s shirts instead.”

Lily’s figure tensed, but Joan leaned nearer to him. He knew he had her now. “You can probably imagine they didn’t always sit properly on my shoulders,” he said. “Then… I couldn’t always get away from my dad. Sometimes, he’d just grab me too hard. Other times, it was entirely intentional.” He couldn’t help himself, he glared at Lily. “I’m sure you remember how Lily behaved yesterday, but once she did have tact.” Lily looked to her fingers in her lap and Severus exhaled. “I think it was a one-off.”

Lily lifted her gaze at that and her eyes were wet as she mouthed “sorry” at him.

Severus dipped his chin in acceptance. He was cross still, but an apology helped. Joan exhaled. Expression stern, she looked at Lily and said, “You won’t ask questions?”

The other girl shook her head. “No,” she said. 

Joan relaxed. “Okay,” she agreed. “Please will you fix my hair?” A flush came to her cheeks. “I really do want to look nice.”

Severus raised an eyebrow at that while Lily undid Joan’s braids. “Oh?” he said when Joan didn’t elaborate.

Lily gave him a slightly scolding look, but Joan didn’t seem to find his question offensive. “I was just going to tell Sirius I fancy him today,” she explained. “But we were both awake for a minute last night and…”

“What?” asked Lily, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. “Are we going to be going on double dates soon? You and Sirius? Me and James?”

Joan’s face was a hot red as she covered her mouth with her hands. When the color receded a little from her cheeks, she admitted. “He was being so kind. Sirius kept trying to say us leaving that forest was all because of me and it was terribly sweet. I know that’s not really true—”

“—but it is,” murmured Severus, cutting her off.

Joan gave him a bland smile in return. “I think you two would have managed without me,” she said. Before he could argue, she continued, “I felt so happy. I wanted to… share it, I guess. So I leaned over and kissed him.”

Lily made a muffled squealing noise and wrapped her hands around Joan’s shoulders and squeezed them. “Go Joan!” she cheered. “That’s wicked.” In return, Joan smiled over her shoulder at Lily and laughed.

Severus felt a little uncomfortable. He was happy Joan had finally shared her true feelings for Sirius, but this conversation was a bit… Girly for his taste. “Er, good job,” he mumbled. 

The pair looked at him, and then at each other. “You are okay with it, aren’t you?” asked Joan. “I know we’ve talked a little in our letters about how I fancy Sirius, but we’re all mates too. If this is awkward for you, Severus—”

“—No,” he said, cutting her off. “It’s quite all right,” he assured her. “I think you both will be very good for each other.”

Joan relaxed. “Thank you,” she said. “Anyway, I kissed him, and he was surprised, but I’m pretty sure he liked it and seemed even happier after I kissed his cheek before going back to bed.”

“Oh! I can’t wait,” gushed Lily. “I know Sirius, he’s going to start asking you on dates soon, and then we can all start doing fun couple-things together!” 

“Really?”

Lily nodded as she tied off one of Joan’s freshly done plaits. “Oh yes,” she agreed. She looked at Severus and smirked. “You better get chummy with Remus in the next couple of days, Severus,” she teased. “You’re going to need somebody to hang around with when Sirius is off with Joan.”

“We’ll all hang out together, you, me, and Sirius,” cut in Joan. “I want us to do stuff together this summer too.”

Lily giggled while Severus smiled at the girl, stomach suddenly not quite so tight. It was a relief to hear Joan didn’t plan to leave him behind while she and Sirius got to know each other in a more romantic sense. “Of course,” he said. 

Joan reached out and squeezed one of his hands that he had on his knee. “You’ve been a brilliant mate to me,” she said. “I’m not going to let our friendship die for a boy — Even if that boy is Sirius.”

Severus didn’t know how to respond to her earnestness, but Lily did. Finished with Joan’s last plait, she let it fall from her fingers and onto Joan’s back. “You’re so lucky to have a mate like Joan, Sev,” she gushed. “I think she’s as loyal as you.” Peaking over Joan’s shoulder to give the girl a mischievous grin, she asked her, “Have you thought about being a Hufflepuff, Joan?”

The girl blinked. “Um.”

Severus huffed and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t truly that annoyed, however. Lily was just having a laugh. He was also too deep in relief from Joan’s assurances to feel much else at the moment. He had hoped things would not change when Joan and Sirius’s relationship changed, but to hear Joan’s conviction they would stay mates no matter what… Severus felt better. Settled, even.

His and Joan’s friendship was going to continue and, quite likely, continue to deepen. Smirking at Lily and Joan, he reached around Joan to tug lightly at Lily’s plait. “Don’t put ideas in her head,” he joked. “Joan is going to be a Ravenclaw.” He widened his smirk into a grin to let Joan know they were only teasing her. “She’s too clever for a house of duds”

Joan snickered. “Is that what they say at Hogwarts?”

Lily and he exchanged a glance. “You should hear what they have to say about us Gryffindors!” she exclaimed.

Joan’s eyes were bright as she asked, “What do they say?”

He had been joking, but as Lily went through the many insults thrown at her house, Severus felt rather convinced Ravenclaw was exactly where his friend would be going. Not only was Joan intelligent, but she was also always eager to know more — Like any proper Ravenclaw. 

Her brother was going to be terribly proud.

-o-O-o-

After everyone had woken, they went inside the Lupin home to eat breakfast. There, Severus took immediate notice of Mr. Lupin hiding behind his newspaper in the lounge room while Mrs. Lupin passed out plates of eggs in a basket with a stiff smile. Severus was uncomfortable, though, most everyone else didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss. Except for Lupin, of course. But they were his parents after all.

The other boy looked around the kitchen with furrowed brows. “Where’s Dolly, Mum?” he asked. “She usually loves to beg for toast.”

His mother’s eyes flashed. “In the dining room by the radiator.” She cast a look across the attached hall and into the lounge. “ _Someone_ forgot to bring her in last night.”

Lupin made a face. “Aw,” he said. “Poor Dolly. She’s okay, though, isn’t she?”

His mother sighed and put down a pitcher of milk for the table. “Thankfully,” she replied.

Severus watched Lupin nod his head. “That’s what matters,” he said. “Really, she shouldn’t be going out after dinner anyway. That’s when foxes start to come out.”

Mrs. Lupin pursed her lips like she was annoyed with her son. In the end, she shook her head and walked away back toward the room’s counters to pick up a mug that was steaming. With it in hand, she leaned against the counter and muttered, “Maybe.”

Lupin shrugged and went back to his meal. Severus continued to watch Mrs. Lupin out of the corner of his eye. That was until Sirius elbowed him and said, “What? Don’t tell me you don’t like eggs.”

Severus glowered at his mate. He did. Mostly, anyway. He just didn’t really care for breakfast. However, he didn’t want a repeat of last night either. So with a flourish, he picked up his fork and lifted a bite of egg to his mouth, and made a show of eating it. “Happy?” he demanded.

Sirius smirked. “Yes,” he said.

Severus did not care for his smug expression. For a moment, he continued to glare. Then he returned the smirk as a thought came to him. “You know,” he said, casual and quiet to not draw the attention of the rest of the table, “I noticed that after you left the tent last night Joan wasn’t in her sleeping bag either.”

Sirius’s eyes blew wide and his cheeks flushed. “Er,” he mumbled. 

Severus chuckled, happy to make Sirius squirm for once instead of the other way around. Picking up another bite of eggs with his fork, he asked, “Care to explain?” 

As he chewed on his eggs, Sirius sputtered with excuses and Severus’s smirk turned into a wide grin.

-O-

Shortly after breakfast, everyone besides Sirius and Severus left the Lupins’ home. With them gone, the house felt even more uncomfortable to Severus than before. In stark contrast to yesterday, Mrs. Lupin was silent as she did chores upstairs. Mr. Lupin wasn’t much better. He’d gone into the dining room shortly after Lupin, Sirius, and he came into the lounge to do paperwork he brought home from the Ministry. 

As for the three of them, they had settled down around the coffee table with some Muggle game Lupin had. It was called Chinese Chequers according to him and there were enough colorful pieces for all of them to play, but Severus had instead opted for sitting on the sofa and thumbing through a book of defense spells he’d gotten at the second-hand shop in Diagon Alley last summer.

Even though everything _seemed_ safe, Severus couldn’t shake the feeling the house was the last place the three of them should be. Just because things were quiet now didn’t mean Mr. and Mrs. Lupin wouldn’t bump into each other later on the way to the loo or something and start in on a screaming row.

He glanced at Sirius and Lupin. They appeared to be quite oblivious to the tension in the house and were, in fact, joking about some stupid thing Potter had said yesterday. He frowned at the two feeling a little put-out by how cavalier they were being. 

“Should we really be in the house now?” he demanded, finally voicing his concerns to them. “That tent is still up in your yard,” he said. “We could spend the afternoon there playing your game.”

The look Lupin settled him was a cross between bewildered and pitying. Severus gritted his teeth. “It’s fine,” he insisted. “Mum’s cross with Dad, not us.”

Severus didn’t understand why that mattered. When his mum was alive, Dad’s ire always got spread around eventually. “Yes, but…”

Lupin exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose briefly. He then said tone firm, “Okay, look, this isn’t even that big of a row they’re having. Yeah, Dad forgot to let the cat in last night. Dolly’s fine, though.” He smiled slightly and told Severus, “Mum will be cross for today, but she will forget it by tomorrow.”

“Until your dad does it again, you mean,” piped up Sirius, looking up from the game board in front of him. Severus frowned at his mate’s word and Lupin scowled at Sirius.

“Not helping, Sirius,” he hissed at the other boy.

Severus pursed his lips. He felt inexplicably stupid. And wrong. Running his fingers over the open pages of his book, he looked down at the words without reading and mumbled, “When people are cross they can be quite irritable, even with those who are not the source of their anger.”

Lupin shook his head. “Mum isn’t like that,” he assured in a softened voice that made Severus’s hand itch to smack him. He didn’t need nor want to be talked down to like a frightened child.

“Hm,” replied Severus, swallowing down more biting words.

Sirius patted the rug, drawing both of their attention. “Come on,” he urged, “come on the floor here. We’re playing Chinese Chequers! It’s pretty wicked.”

Severus lifted his book from his lap and into the air, showing it to his mate. “I’m happy with my book,” he said. 

Plus, getting to his feet would be much easier from the sofa than the floor if the need arose. Lupin surely knew his mother best. Knew she wouldn’t inflict her anger at his father onto them too. Yet… Severus still didn’t quite believe him. There was always room for first times. Especially when she could direct her frustration at someone like him. A hardly acquaintance of her son and threat to his education.

Sirius rolled his eyes and then stretched himself belly-down on the floor, legs behind him and hands propping up his chin. “I can’t believe you brought that,” he complained. “I told you we’d be hanging out the whole time.”

Severus let Sirius’s whining go in one ear and out the other. As far as he was concerned, having a book on hand was a must, no matter where or what you were doing. “I always keep a book with me,” he said.

“He’s clever to, Sirius,” broke in Lupin. Surprising Severus by being on his side. He looked at him then, eyes bright. “Actually, Severus, you know, if you wanted to help improve my mum’s mood you should ask her for a book recommendation,” he said. “She loves to lend her stuff to people.”

Severus’s heart gave a hard thud. This was a trap, wasn’t it? He’d been lying before. Lupin wanted Severus to be the sacrificial lamb and take on his mother’s ire. “I don’t think so,” he said with a sneer.

Lupin’s expression became a frown, however, before he could spit something at Severus Sirius was sitting up. “No! He’s right,” he assured Severus. “She’s who gave me Frankenstein to read.” Gaze distant, he smiled and said, “That book was _great_.” Reaching out, he gave one of Severus’s feet planted on the floor a light push. “I bet she’ll have something you will like.”

Severus felt a little less like he was being tricked, but uneasy still. Surely Mrs. Lupin, in her sour mood, would like to be left to herself? “I’m not much for novels,” he hedged.

“That’s fine,” jumped in Lupin, no longer frowning and excitement seemingly renewed thanks to Sirius. “She has a lot of Kafka, he wrote plenty of short stories. Christie did too and I know she has at least a couple of books with her shorter stuff.”

Severus was not familiar with the name Kafka, though, Christie he thought he’d seen on the shelves of the Muggle library he frequented during his summers home. “I don’t know either well,” he said.

Lupin smiled wide, teeth bright. “That’s perfect! She can tell you all about them.”

“Go on, Severus,” urged Sirius, pushing once again on his foot.

Severus pulled it away and lifted his book higher.“I’m fine with my book.”

His mate gave him a pout and declared, “I’m going to keep bugging you to play Chinese Chequers.”

“Sirius,” he grumbled.

Lupin held up a hand and placed the other on his chest. “I _swear_ Severus, this isn’t some kind of trap,” he said, causing Severus to blink in surprise. Expression sickeningly sincere, Lupin insisted, “Really, ask my mum for a book. She’ll be so excited she’ll forget there was even anything to be cross about this morning.”

“…Fine,” relented Severus. It didn’t seem like either Remus or Sirius were going to let up now that they’d gotten this notion in their heads anyway. He closed his book and stood up. He still thought this was a bad idea, but Lupin did sound very confident this would only work in their favor. Severus really would like the tension to go away, the risk of becoming collateral damage a thing of the past. Re-pocketing his textbook, he walked up the stairs of the home and looked down the short hallway to see Mrs. Lupin putting sheets away in a linen closet.

“Mrs. Lupin?” he called out to her.

She hurriedly pushed the sheets in and turned her head. “Hm?” she said only to smile at him in a way that was more warm than strained. “Oh, hello there, Severus.” Closing the linen closet door, she moved quickly toward him, asking, “Can I do something for you? A snack?”

He shook his head. “No, Sirius and Remus are playing chequers,” explained Severus. “I’m not particularly interested.” He looked to his toes and mumbled, “Remus said, though, you may have something I can read?”

Mrs. Lupin’s smile doubled in size. “Did he?” 

Severus nodded.

She laughed and went toward another closed door to their right. “My son is too right!” she said. “Come on, come into my bedroom,” she urged as she opened the door. “I have a bookcase in here with my favorites.”

Severus peered into the room. It was neat with a made-up bed. On the far wall, there were two windows framed by paisley-patterned curtains. Between the windows was a short and squat bookcase filled from top to bottom with books. Atop the unit was a few more, but also a small cluster of picture frames. One frame, a larger gold one, held what Severus believed was Mrs. Lupin and Mr. Lupin’s wedding photo.

Severus had only ever seen his parents’ wedding photo once. That had been when his mother asked him to clean out from under her bed when he was about six for her. Severus recalled being quite shocked by the picture. 

His mother looked more like a schoolgirl than a woman with her pink cheeks and shy smile. She had been dressed in a tea-length, long sleeve white dress and a little round hat with an attached veil. In her arms had been a bouquet of anemones. Even at his young age, he’d known no one in his family was really good-looking, but he’d still thought her very pretty all the same. While his father… He’d been dressed in a dark suit with a black tie and _smiling_. Not in an unkind, mocking way, but in one full of excitement as he stared at the photographer with clear, unintoxicated eyes.

Severus had debated keeping the picture for himself at the time. If his parents hadn’t noticed it was missing before then, why would they after he cleaned under the bed? In the end, he had given it to his mother because he’d been afraid of what would happen if his dad found it in his room later. His mother had seemed sad when she saw the photo and it was quickly put away somewhere Severus hadn’t been privy to.

He had looked a time or two for the photo, but hadn’t found it. Severus expected he probably wouldn’t until his father was dead and he could search their Spinner’s End home without the man to get in the way.

“Are you coming, Severus?” asked Mrs. Lupin, drawing Severus’s attention back to her. 

She was sitting on the end of her bed closest to the bookcase now, hands in her lap and head tilted to the side in question.

He sighed. “If it’s not any trouble…”

“It’s not,” she assured him, waving for him to come in. With reluctance, he walked into the room, half-closing the door behind him. Once he stood awkwardly beside Mrs. Lupin, she patted the navy duvet next to her. “Take a seat, why don’t you, Severus?” she pressed.

He sat. The bed was slightly bouncy, but not hard. “Thank you,” he said. Now closer only an arm’s length from the bookcase, he could make out a lot more about its contents. 

The shelves held a lot of different books. Some were thin, almost disappearing between more typically sized novels, while more were large and thick. A few books Severus knew to be detective works, _The Nine Tailors_ , _Death on The Nile_ , _The Return of Sherlock Holmes_. He also saw the _Frankenstein_ story Sirius mentioned. As well as works he didn’t know, _Candide: Optimist_ , _The Romance of The Forest, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest_ , to name a few.

“Now, tell me a little about what you usually read,” said Mrs. Lupin, ending Severus’s study. He looked at the woman, her eyes were wide and attentive. 

Severus had to look to his lap. “Poems,” he admitted after a moment. Of course he read much more, defense texts, potions manuals, and books full of curses and hexes. However, he knew Mrs. Lupin would have none of that in her personal collection. She was Muggle.

Mrs. Lupin made a happy sound. “A poetry man! How lovely,” she gushed. “Who do you read?”

Severus took a moment to gather his thoughts. He dabbled all over time and styles, though, there were some he enjoyed more than others. “A mix,” he began. Thinking of the previous few summers and his time tucked up against dusty shelves in the little library he visited during the days Lily was busy or he just didn’t want to be around people, Severus elaborated and said, “I read a lot of classics, Milton and Blake, for the last few years. Byron too, of course. The _Irish Avatar_ was enlightening I found.” He squinted at his hands and remembered how after his fourth year he’d spent the first half of his summer reading and struggling with _The Hollow Men_ and _The Four Quartets._ “A couple of summers ago I spent a lot of time at the library reading T.S. Eliot. They were displaying his stuff, he’d died that year, you see.” 

As Mrs. Lupin hummed next to him, Severus returned to last year in his mind. “Last year I read quite a bit of Yeats and Edward Thomas,” he told her. He made a face as he studied his fingernails. They were in need of a trim. “Thomas was kind of boring mostly, but the stuff he wrote during the first world war… I understood some of what he felt in those. I think it’s really too bad he died when he did,” he looked at Mrs. Lupin then. She was leaned in nearer than when he last looked at her. “His stuff was just getting good,” he said.

Mrs. Lupin leaned back and turned her gaze to her bookcase. As her gaze traveled toward the bottom of it, she said, “That’s interesting. I can’t say I know much about Edward Thomas. I did read _Paradise Lost_ when I was young for a school assignment. I’m quite familiar with Lord Byron too.” She flashed him a smirk. “He was very famous in his time and had a lot of influence on arts then and well after from what I understand.” She slipped off her bed and onto her knees on the floor. Reaching into the second-to-last shelf, she pulled off a hefty black hardback book detailed with gold writing and designs. “You know what I think you’d like?” she asked. She held up the book, letting Severus see properly what it was. “Edgar Allan Poe.”

The name sounded like something Severus had seen elsewhere. “He’s American, isn’t he?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes, he was,” replied Mrs. Lupin as she lowered the book into her lap and stroked the cover. “He was a romanticist like Byron and Blake,” she said. “I think they also credit the existence of the detective genre to him.”

Severus blinked. That was rather impressive. “A whole genre?”

Lupin’s mother laughed. “Fascinating, isn’t it?” she said. Then, in a murmur, she said, “Here, let’s open it up.” For a moment, she thumbed through the contents. “Ah!” she exclaimed abruptly before flipping through the text quickly. A quarter of the way through the book she stopped and held it up and out to Severus. Eyes alight, she declared, “This is _Ulalume_. Try reading it aloud, won’t you?” she wheedled. “It just sounds so splendid spoken.”

Severus didn’t really want to read aloud but didn't think he could say no either. Mrs. Lupin was doing him a favor, letting him borrow one of her books. “If you insist…” he mumbled.

“I do!” affirmed Mrs. Lupin.

He sighed. Then, he straightened out his back and lifted the book up. Focusing on the poem, he began:

“ _The skies they were ashen and sober;_

_The leaves they were crispéd and sere—_

_The leaves they were withering and sere;_

_It was night in the lonesome October…”_

On Severus went until he was finished with the poem. When he was, he lowered the book to his lap. He’d been reluctant, but Severus had to agree with Mrs. Lupin, the poem did please the ears.

The woman, who’d closed her eyes at some point, opened them and exhaled. “Oh, thank you, Severus,” she said. “That was a lovely reading.”

He fought down a blush and looked away. “It was nothing.”

“Really, you have quite a handsome voice,” insisted Mrs. Lupin. Before that blush he’d just suppressed could try to rise again, Severus was shaken from his mortification by the woman asking, “What did you think of the poem?”

He frowned. What answer was she looking for exactly? “It’s, er, sad,” he said after a pause. How else was one supposed to describe the story of a man visiting the grave of his dead lover?

“You’re right,” said Mrs. Lupin. Eyes a touch faraway, she added, “I think it’s rather touching too, how deeply he felt for the woman, Ulalume.”

“Yes,” he allowed. It was admirable, in a way, to have loved so deeply. Severus bit the inside of his cheek. It was silly, but he wondered now. Would Mrs. Lupin see him as admirable too if he told her he’d done nearly the same thing as the narrator just yesterday? Severus did his best not to care for the opinions of others — or seek them out — but so far Mrs. Lupin had surprised him at every turn.

Yesterday, when he arrived, he’d expected her to be cool. Polite for her son, for Sirius, but to ignore him unless it became necessary for her to address him. Instead, she’d been friendly, caring, and interested. She treated Severus like another friend of her son’s instead of the greatest threat to Lupin’s future that he was.

There was only one way to find out what Mrs. Lupin would think. It was to bring it up. Bracing himself for the worst, he mumbled to the woman, “I did that.” Her brows furrowed, though, it seemed to be more from perplexment than anger, as Severus elaborated, “It wasn’t romantic, of course, but I found myself at my mum’s grave yesterday without really thinking about it.”

Mrs. Lupin’s confusion morphed into sympathy. “Ah, yes, Remus mentioned,” she said. “I’m so sorry you’ve lost her.”

He shrugged. Severus tried to not think about that part too much. It was still hard. Especially when housemates went to send letters home to their mothers and all he could do was watch. There was no one at home for him to write to. “It was a while ago now.”

“That doesn’t change much. You obviously cared deeply for her,” the woman insisted, even reaching up to touch his knee. He stopped himself from jumping to his feet.

Staring down at the cover of the collection Mrs. Lupin had given him, Severus said, “She was my mum.” 

She sighed. “That does sum it up, doesn’t it?” mused Mrs. Lupin, eyes fixed on the wall behind Severus. “Mothers are often some of our dearest in life.”

He nodded in agreement. Besides Lily, and now Sirius and Joan, his mother had been the most important person in his life. “She’s who got me interested in poems,” he explained, his grip tightening on the book. Mind far away, immersed in the past, he remembered how instead of bedtime stories or songs, his mother would whisper stanzas to him as she tucked him in to sleep. “When I was really little, she’d recite to me the ones she remembered reading at Hogwarts,” he said to Mrs. Lupin.

Her voice was soft as she commented, “That sounds nice.”

“Yes, I think those are my favorite memories with her,” replied Severus. They’d been good moments. Some of the warmest between them where her breath had tickled his ear and her fingers, cool comforting smoothed away his hair from his forehead before she placed a dry kiss on it. “They were all written by wizards and witches, of course,” he had to admit.

She gave a little laugh. It wasn’t unkind but simply amused. “Yes, of course.”

“I went to the Muggle library in the town over from Cokeworth for the first time wanting to find a poem as clever as the ones she told me,” he said to his attentive audience. It was easy to remember that day. He’d been eight and walked over an hour to get there on foot. Stepping into the library had been a relief and a triumph. 

“I found a couple and I memorized them for her,” he explained. Fighting back a lump in his throat, Severus whispered, “She smiled when I told her the poems. Not just smiled, though, if that makes sense?” He ducked his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Like she was happy everywhere, her eyes, her cheeks, the way she stood…”

“I do understand,” whispered Mrs. Lupin, making Severus let go of a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding back.

“I really liked the poems my mum told me, and I’ve read the collections they’ve come from now, but…” Severus trailed off, feeling a little embarrassed. It was something he’d never felt like he could share with his mother. As much as she liked those poems Severus told her, he knew they paled to the ones she’d read in her youth. To all poems written by witches and wizards probably. “It’s the Muggle stuff I really like.” 

Mrs. Lupin didn’t snort or frown. Instead, she touched his knee and said, “I can see why. It’s the Muggle poems that helped you to make your mother happy.”

Severus took in her words. Yes, that was why he liked them, wasn’t it? “They really did,” he agreed.

Her soft touch turned into a warm, assuring grip. “You are such a strong boy, do you know that?” she asked.

Severus pulled away, shame back. “I’m not,” he mumbled, letting his hair close around his face like a curtain on a window. The story he told Lily, Sirius and the rest, it was not the full truth. “I saw my dad coming at me and I _still_ let him hit me,” he admitted. He stood up, book clutched tight between his fingers as he hissed, cross with himself, “I shouldn’t have let him bloody _touch_ me.” Turning away from Mrs. Lupin, he kicked at the dust-ruffle of her marriage bed. “I’m not eight anymore!”

Severus didn’t need to turn around to see Mrs. Lupin had gotten to her feet too. Her voice was coming from right next to him rather than below. “He should have never done that in the first place!” she argued. “That was wrong of him and it is _not_ your fault you didn’t fight him off in the moment.” Her voice was soft, tremulous and when Severus turned his head slightly to look at her, he saw she was clutching her hands in front of her. It seemed to him she was holding herself back. From touching him, perhaps? “He’s your father,” she said. “No child wants to fight their father.”

Severus was not comforted. Maybe that was true, he didn’t want to fight his father — not really. He wanted him _dead_.

He turned to the woman, mouth shaking, and confessed, “I wished it was he who fell down the stairs and not my mum when I went to her grave.” The book of poetry, still held tight in his fingers, was cutting into his palms as he whispered, “I wish it a lot even when I’m not at her grave.”

“Oh, Severus,” breathed Mrs. Lupin. Her hands unlocked and Severus could only gasp when they landed on his back, her arms enveloping him and her damp face pressed to his neck.

“He’s awful, but I still feel terrible,” Severus told Mrs. Lupin. Tears in his own eyes as she trembled against him, he murmured, “I don’t understand.”

Mrs. Lupin pulled away and gazed up in his eyes, her own red and searching. “I can’t imagine how difficult the last couple of years have been for you,” she said. “To lose your mother so young…” she trailed off. Pulling away, she stood a breath away, her hands still on his upper-arms. “I felt adrift at thirty when my own mother passed!” she exclaimed. A snarl shaping on her lips, she hissed, “And your father! Severus, what you feel, whatever it is, it’s okay.” She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. Severus was in too much shock to so much as lean away from the fingers holding him. “Someday, when you are able to put distance between now and then, you’ll feel less mixed up.”

It was not what he wanted to say — planned to say — yet it fell from his lips all the same. “I think you’re the kindest Muggle I’ve ever met,” he told Mrs. Lupin, looking down his nose at her with no small amount of wonder.

Instead of smiling, her snarl crumpled and her lashes began to beat at a rapid pace. “Oh, that can’t be true. You grew up in a town’s worth, didn’t you?”

He finally freed himself of her hands and shrugged his shoulders. “My family didn’t have money,” he explained. “I wore a lot of charity shop things and students at my primary school treated me as dirty — I was sometimes, but not always. The teachers weren’t much better. Lily’s parents are… polite, but I don’t think they ever really cared much for me, seeing as I’m from Spinner’s End and all.” That had been his best relationship with a Muggle, except for—

“I guess, there was one man who lived a few houses down from my family…” he said, reluctant to share, but feeling he ought to if only to stem the renewed tears budding in the corners of Mrs. Lupin’s eyes. “But I think he was just lonely,” he finished feeling a little silly. That man, nice as he’d been, hadn’t _really_ liked him. Surely. No one else had. Why would he have been different?

“I’m sure that wasn’t it, why don’t you tell me a little more about your neighbor?” insisted Mrs. Lupin.

Severus looked to the bookcase with all of its books as he tried to remember the old man. The last he saw him was nearly a decade ago now. “He was old,” he started, recalling the liver spots on his hands and his thick, stark white mustache. “I think he got hurt in the war and it made it hard for him to move around very easily. I was about seven when I properly met him one day. He’d been outside with his dog and he let me pet it. After that, he asked if I’d like to weed his garden for him in exchange for a bit of pocket money for candy.”

“That’s nice,” said Mrs. Lupin, smiling now and tears gone.

Severus nodded. “I suppose,” he acquiesced. “When I’d weed, he’d sit close by and tell me stuff about the war, when he was a kid, and about Spinner’s End over the years,” he explained to Mrs. Lupin. As he did, he vaguely recalled talking about him to Sirius too. When they’d been cooking those rabbits they ate. Severus pushed that hazy recollection away in favor of telling Mrs. Lupin, “He only talked about the war stuff when I had my back to him. It was a little odd, but I think his stories are why I started reading Thomas in the first place.”

“Really?”

Severus nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Something about his war poetry… It reminded me of my neighbor. It was… pleasant, remembering then,” he explained. Severus sighed, recalling with sharp clarity men taking a sheet-covered stretcher from the man’s house into an ambulance one fall day while he was on his way to primary school. It had been sad to realize there would be no more afternoons spent listening to the man’s stories or getting to pet his dog. “Anyway, he died when I was nine,” he finished.

“Oh, Severus,” said Mrs. Lupin.

Severus shook his head and smiled slightly. “It's fine, Hope,” he told her. “I’ve had a lot of time to grow past it.”

Her eyes sparkled at the use of her first name, but, thankfully, she did not comment. Instead, she returned his smile with a grin. “He was nice to you because he knew you were a good boy,” she said.

Severus scoffed. “You can’t know his mind,” he argued.

Hope laughed. “No,” she agreed. “But I imagine he must have to so willingly let you come back and help him time after time. People don’t spend time on others they don’t think are worthwhile.”

Severus’s breath caught. He then shook his head and held the book high to be eye-level with the woman. “Thanks again for this,” he said. “I appreciate it.”

Hope touched his cheek. “You’re welcome,” she said. “Now, why don’t you go see if Remus and Sirius are finished with their game, hm? Let them know I’m thinking we’ll have beef bourguignon for dinner.”

“Sure, Hope.”

“Off with you now,” she teased. “I have to finish the laundry.”

Severus smirked. “Of course.” He then went to leave the room, but, before he could step into the hallway, Hope called:

“Severus?”

He looked over his shoulder at her. “Yes?” he asked, curious.

“You can stay here,” she said with a strong, steady gaze. “You don’t have to go back to your father’s if you don’t want to.”

Severus didn’t know how to respond. He was unsettled by the offer. Lupin had told him he could stay yesterday too. Severus had thought it a ludicrous offer then. It’d been made seemingly in the moment, spurred from emotions. Mrs. Lupin’s offer no doubt came from the same source. Yet… It felt more credible at the same time. This was her home. One she owned with her husband.

A husband who had _not_ offered Severus a room. The Lupins were obviously a different family from his own, yet he was sure it was not so different that Hope could make unilateral decisions about the Lupin home like that. It was a very kind offer. Yet Severus knew he couldn’t _really_ accept it. He smiled at her still. It was a small and closed-lip smile, but sincere all the same.

“Thank you for your kindness,” he said. With that, he finally left.

When he came back downstairs, Lupin and Sirius were pouring over some magical tabloids, the game they’d been playing tucked beneath the coffee table. When Severus sat on the sofa, Lupin asked, “What book did Mum give you?”

He held it up so the other boy could see the cover. “A collection of Poe’s work.”

“Ugh,” he said, nose wrinkled. “He’s pretty depressing.”

Severus shrugged as he flipped over the table of contents and to the preface. He found it helpful to know a little about the poet before he read their work. It made it a bit easier to try to puzzle out the meaning of their words. “I like the one I and your mother read,” he said.

“Really?” said Sirius, putting his hands flat on the coffee table and leaning across it to peer a little more closely at the book in Severus’s hands. “Do you think we’d like it too?” he asked.

Severus hesitated. He did not think Sirius would. He probably wouldn’t even really _get_ it. “Hm,” he replied. “Possibly not,” he said, honest. “It’s, well, possibly a little maudlin.”

Lupin rolled his eyes. “ _Most_ of Poe’s stuff is that way,” he declared. Severus frowned while Sirius sat back down with a sigh.

“Oh,” his friend said, disappointed.

Severus glowered at Lupin. Lupin, obviously feeling a bit bad about killing Sirius’s interest, dropped his gaze to his lap a moment. When he looked back up, he said to Severus, “Read _Eldorado_. That one is actually not _too_ sad.”

He almost said no to spite the other boy, however, Sirius’s eyes brightened with fresh interest. Severus knew then he couldn’t say no. With a loud, put-upon sigh he agreed. “Very well,” he grumbled. “I’m only going to read _one_ aloud though.”

“Yes, that’s quite all right,” replied Remus, placing one elbow on the coffee table and his head in his hand. Sirius got up and sat on the sofa with Severus, taking up the end he did not occupy, rudely placing his dirty, stocking-covered feet on the cushions and knees near his chin. 

Severus made sure to roll his eyes at his friend who returned the look with a pair of cross-eyes. Severus snorted at that. Turning his attention to Hope’s book then he went to the table of contents and trailed his finger down the list until he reached _Eldorado._ Severus next flipped to the appropriate page and wetted his lips with the tip of his tongue.

“ _Gaily bedight,_

_A gallant knight,_

_In sunshine and in shadow,_

_Had journeyed long,_

_Singing a song,_

_In search of Eldorado…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a pretty long scene with Hope this chapter. How did you like it? The other scenes? The next one will focus much more on just Severus, Sirius, and Remus.
> 
> Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo!


	6. VI

“Sirius,” said someone, shaking him. “Sirius,” they repeated louder, though still in a voice quieter than one would in a normal day-to-day conversation. He cracked his eye open to see Severus, sitting up in the Lupins’ guest bed, hand, looking larger than it had a right to, hovering above him.

Sirius lifted his head and was about to speak before he realized that’d be impossible as he was now. Giving his frowning friend a small, reassuring thump of his tail, Sirius stood up and hopped off the bed. After briefly shaking himself, Sirius returned to his original shape. He then went back to the bed and made himself comfortable on the corner wedged up against the wrought iron frame. 

As Severus continued to study him with a critical eye, he smothered a yawn with his hand before using it, along with his other hand, to hold up his head. “Sorry,” he apologized to his friend. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine,” said Severus. Something almost tentative passing over his severe features, he asked, “Do you need anything or…?”

He gave a minute shake of his head. Severus couldn’t do anything about what he’d dreamt — remembered. It was all in the past now. “No, I’m good,” he assured the other boy. “Thanks.”

“It was a nightmare, wasn’t it?” asked Severus, surprising Sirius by not dropping it.

He held back a sigh. There was no reason to lie, was there? He’d know. “Yeah.”

“Same as last night?” questioned Severus, sounding almost sympathetic.

“No, actually,” answered Sirius, staring down at his bare toes. He curled and uncurled them in the little rug the Lupins’ kept beside the bed. “It’s sort of strange,” he admitted, not looking at Severus. “I almost never dream of my parents kicking me out, but I did tonight.”

There was a brief silence followed by Severus clearing his throat. “Hm,” he mumbled. “Well it couldn’t have been too terrible a nightmare?” he offered. “You never much care for them anyway, did you?”

Sirius’s head snapped up and he could only stare at Severus. When in Merlin’s name had his friend become somebody who looked for the silver lining? “What? Of course it sucked!” he growled, earning him a scowl for his tone. “Sure, my parents were awful, but they were still my mother and father!”

Severus’s face stayed fixed in a frown, but it changed from annoyance to what might have been shame (Sirius couldn’t be too sure, he didn’t know all of the expressions Severus was capable of yet. It was too bad Lily went home yesterday). “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he mumbled. “You never sound too broken up when you talk about them any other time.”

“…I’m not,” admitted Sirius after a long rest. He exhaled and scrubbed a hand through his hair. It wasn’t really his parents screaming and hexing at him that had unsettled him so deeply in his nightmare. It’d been Regulus behind them, watching with a shaking mouth and frightened eyes.

“Then why are you cross with me?” asked Severus.

Sirius looked at Severus, who was eyeing him warily now. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” he sort of apologized. “I’m not _really_ upset about them,” he explained, only to correct himself. That wasn’t entirely right. He was unhappy about them also, but less than he was his brother. “Well, I am,” he corrected. Then, because he could, and because he was pretty sure Severus would _get_ it, he complained, “They should be the two people in the world who stand by me no matter what, but instead, they bloody disowned me!”

“I am sorry,” whispered Severus and Sirius looked to the bed when he felt one of his friend’s toes poke him in the thigh. They were still beneath the covers, but Sirius appreciated the tiny connection. “Dad is horrible, but I know he would never do that no matter how much he hates me,” Severus empathized with an uncomfortable amount of sincerity. 

It was when words like these passed between them that Sirius was reminded just how _wrong_ he’d been about Severus. He wasn’t some soulless dark-wizard-in-training. He was another boy like him, a boy who was both uncannily similar and not at all. Sometimes, Sirius could squint at Severus and almost imagine being him, having his story instead. He’d been so close, too close, to being a single Slytherin pitted against a group of relentless Gryffindors.

Voice dark, Severus uttered with contempt, “He thinks blood _means_ something.”

Sirius didn’t mean to, but he laughed. Severus did not startle at the sound, instead, he blinked, apparently confused. He patted the foot poking him in a silent ask for understanding. “That is just hilarious,” he said. “Your dad is a bloody Muggle who knows fuck all about our blood purity shite and he treats blood as more important than my parents who rant about it ad nauseam.”

Severus looked away, foot retreating from under Sirius’s fingers. “Sorry.”

Sirius didn’t let him get away. Quickly he grabbed his foot and squeezed it. “No, it’s not your fault,” he assured him. Then, after a beat, he asked Severus, not quite looking him in the eye, “Do you know what really upsets me?”

“What?” murmured Severus.

Sirius sucked in a breath. “Regulus is still under their thumb.”

“I thought you didn’t like him either,” replied Severus, hesitant.

He nodded. Sirius supposed he should have expected that. He’d never been shy about sharing how disappointing he found his brother. “He’s annoying and I guess I _don’t_ like him, yeah,” he agreed. It was complicated to explain how he felt about Regulus. The prat was the _worst_ , but he was still Reg and they used to sneak into each other’s beds when they were little after nightmares. It mattered. Even if it was just a little bit. “He’s still my little brother, though?” said Sirius, trying to gauge Severus’s level of understanding. None of his friends really got his feelings about Regulus. They were all only children for one reason or another and the whole sibling dynamic was foreign to them. “Just because he’s a weak-willed idiot doesn’t mean _he_ should be the one to carry our barmy parents’ expectations on his shoulders alone,” concluded Sirius when Severus gave a tiny nod.

“…I suppose I understand,” mumbled Severus, though there was a doubtfulness to the way he said it and Sirius could only sigh. Maybe he should try to talk to Joan about Regulus sometime. She had a brother and a sister.

“Ah, I don’t expect you to Severus,” he said and before his mate could bristle, he went on, “It’s just the way I feel. Sometimes I really wish there was something I could do for him. Make Reg _see_ what’s right in front of his bloody nose.”

Severus surprised Sirius when after a minute of silence, he remarked, “I don’t think he’s a lost cause.”

“What?” he replied, gaping.

“Your brother… I do see him more than you these days,” continued Severus, black eyes churning in a speculative manner. “He does have empathy I think. I’ve seen him comfort younger students upset over things like exam grades or rows with mates. He takes his role as prefect very seriously.”

Well. Wasn’t that sickenly sweet? It didn’t mean much Sirius thought. “He’s empathetic, okay, but that’s toward Slytherins,” argued Sirius. “People who are like _him._ ”

Severus glowered at Sirius, obviously irritated by his rebuttal. “It’s there, is what I am telling you,” he grumbled. “It can be grown.”

Sirius supposed that was true. Who was going to make it grow, though? Sirius couldn’t help him. Regulus hardly dared to look in the direction of people wearing Gryffindor colors lest it was him wearing it. He was terrified someone would write home to their mother, tell her he was showing _sympathy_ to a blood-traitor like Sirius, and get disowned himself. 

“All right, but what’s going to make him?” he asked. “Not his friends, not my parents, certainly not You-Know-Who,” he finished with a derisive snort.

“I tutor him in potions,” said Severus, befuddling Sirius. What did that matter? Severus’s mouth curved in a small smirk. “No offense to your brother, but he’s pants at it.”

He chuckled. “Still squeamish, is he? He better grow out of that right quick if some of the stories in the papers are to be believed with even a grain of salt,” Sirius muttered darkly, making Severus’s smirk disappear altogether. Looking squarely at his mate, he asked, “Also, what’s that matter?”

“I could try to make him see sense,” he suggested in a neutral tone with an expression Sirius couldn’t read.

It was a nice offer, but Sirius didn’t know if it would do much. He was pretty sure only _really_ seeing it all with his own eyes would convince Regulus at all these days. “Thanks mate, but I’m not sure how far you’d get,” he said. “He’s really up our mother’s twat.”

Instead of letting it go, Severus surprised him by pressing the issue, “It could plant at least a seed of doubt.”

“Yeah,” relented Sirius, not wanting to argue. He was tired. He didn’t think there was anything to be done about his brother. Yet he knew Severus could be almost as stubborn as him. He didn’t want to spend the rest of the night hashing this out and ruin the last day he and Remus had to convince Severus to spend the rest of his summer here.

“I do understand there may be no changing his path now, but, perhaps, once he truly sees what being a Death Eater is like, what connection I made could bring him out of it,” Severus forged on and Sirius actually was made to blink in wonder. Maybe he had understood earlier. Maybe he _did_ get his weird feelings about Regulus.

“They’ll probably kill him before he can get away,” he whispered. It was awful to voice aloud, but it was the truth and Sirius had never hidden from anything in his life, miserable futures included.

“Maybe.”

“Can we talk about something else?” Sirius begged. Maybe he didn’t run, but he didn’t want to ruminate on it. It was one of the few things that could really make him tear up. “I don’t want to imagine my little brother getting murdered for suddenly growing a conscience and refusing to torture a Muggle-born’s toddler or something.”

Severus nodded. “If you like,” he agreed, voice softer.

He sighed with relief. “Thanks.”

“Sirius?” 

“Yeah?” he returned.

Severus wouldn’t look right at him as he offered, “If you want to pass along any kind of message to him, I will for you.”

Sirius smiled and ignored the boulder in his throat. “Thanks, mate,” he said. Then, leaning forward, he pressed down on Severus’s shoulder and said. “Let’s get some more sleep, okay? In a couple of hours, Moony’s going to wake us for breakfast.”

“Okay,” agreed Severus, not fighting him to Sirius’s exhausted relief.

Sirius considered turning back into Padfoot then, curling back up at the end of the bed. However, instead, he laid himself flush next to Severus. His mate was stiff at first, but then Sirius turned on his side, creating a half-inch space between them. Their hair mingled on the pillow they now shared and, out of the corner of his eye, Severus watched him. “This is fine, isn’t it?” asked Sirius. “I could go back to being Padfoot if you like.”

Severus’s chin wrinkled briefly before he answered. “No,” he said. “The bed’s just big enough.”

Sirius relaxed. Closing his eyes, he listened to Severus’s measured breathing. Like this, he could almost pretend it was his brother he was sharing a bed with. It was a comforting imagining and, soon, Sirius drifted off into dreamless sleep.

-o-O-o-

“What are you doing?” Sirius asked as he watched Remus fiddle with a black box with several different buttons and dials and a handle as long as the box itself. He gaped when it started to make noise and leaned over the back of the Lupin’s sofa to inspect the box in Remus’s hands closer. At first, there was just static, then a man’s voice drolling on about the precipitation outside reverberated from the box. It was some miniature Muggle wireless Sirius realized then.

Fingers falling still, Remus answered him, “Listening to the weather.”

Severus turned his head toward them. He was laid out at Remus’s feet, almost wedged between the sofa and the coffee table on the lounge room rug. Putting Hope’s Poe book, which he’d been reading from, on his stomach, he asked Remus, “Why?”

Remus’s face flickered into a frown. “Shh!” he hissed, earning himself a glare from Severus. For a minute, they all just listened to the man on the radio talk about the weather. Finally, he said something about there being only light rain showers in the evening, and Remus hopped to his feet. “Yes!” he cheered as Severus sat up and moved away from the other boy. “No rain!” he exclaimed, giving first Sirius, then Severus, a toothy smile.

Sirius didn’t know if he followed. “No rain?” he echoed, voice lifting with question.

Remus seemed to understand his nonverbal request for an explanation and nodded his head. “It’s brilliant,” he told them as he leaned over Severus to put the radio on the coffee table. “I didn’t want to suggest it until I could be sure of the weather, but I think we should bike into town today,” he said. “Gets some ice cream.”

Sirius’s face split into its own broad smile. A trip to town did sound like a great way to spend the day!

“Didn’t you say the town was an hour away?” asked Severus, lips pursed as he looked first from Remus to Sirius.

“N—” began Sirius’s friend before he stopped and shook his head. Remus’s tone was patient as he told Severus, “When I was ten it was. The bike ride is much easier now. It’s probably an hour round trip now.”

Before Severus could try to argue, Sirius used the back of the sofa as a vault to toss himself onto the seat of it. “Wicked!” he said. “If that’s the case, I don’t see why we shouldn’t!” he smirked at Severus. “With the nice weather we’re having, it’ll be a good adventure for the day.”

Practically hugging Hope’s book to his chest, Severus frowned and said, “Wouldn’t it be easier to use disapparition to get there?”

“Severus!” whined Sirius, leaning down and into his mate’s space, “That’d ruin the adventure bit.”

“I… don’t know… how to ride a bicycle,” Severus muttered slowly like it hurt as he tightened his hold on the book.

Remus tilted his head, confused, but, thankfully, unamused. “Really?” he said.

Severus sighed and nodded. “My family had no money for one.”

“And Lily wouldn’t let you practice with hers?” asked Sirius as he scratched his head. He’d learned when he was twelve at Pete’s over a couple of visits.

Severus flushed and turned his scowl on his knees. “It was pink,” he grumbled. “I was _not_ going to ride it.”

Surely the Evans family hadn’t bought _both_ their kids pink bicycles. “Her sister?” he pressed.

Severus leveled Sirius with a hard and affronted glared. “Have you _met_ Petunia?” he snapped. “She’d have wrecked her bike herself before letting my dirty Spinner’s End fingers near it.”

“Erh, sorry, Severus,” apologized Remus, jumping in to rescue Sirius before he put his foot in it too far for him to take out. “That couldn’t have been fun,” he sympathized. Bringing a hand to his chin, he said, “We’ll think of something. The ride is half the experience.”

“Maybe we could tote him in something?” suggested Sirius as he scrunched his nose in thought. “A wagon?”

“I will not be treated like luggage!” Severus growled.

Remus rolled his eyes at the other boy’s bristling. “We’d never dare.”

“Shut up, Lupin,” hissed Severus.

“Hey!” decried Remus, hand falling from his chin and balling at his side.

Sirius got to his feet and put a hand on top of Remus’s fist. “It’s okay,” he told his friend. Turning to Severus, who was watching warily, he chided him, “Severus, knock it off. We’re just brainstorming.” Returning his attention to Remus, he asked his friend, “Is there a way to transfigure another seat on one of the bikes?”

Remus sighed. “No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “Not without ruining mine or Dad’s bicycle.”

“Hmm…” said Sirius, turning his head slightly to stare out the lounge room window as he thought. If making a seat wouldn’t work, and Severus wouldn’t be toted in a wagon, what could they do? It was too bad Severus wasn’t some small animagus like Peter. Then they could carry Severus on one of their shoulders or in a pocket of a sweater. His thoughts turned at that imagining. They should probably help him become an animagus this year. It would be a useful skill to have even if he didn’t join them on their romps through the Forbidden Forest with Remus ever.

“In Cokeworth, there are some boys who have footholds on their back wheels,” Severus said, surprising both Sirius and Remus. “They often will ride with one carted on the back,” he adds, staring down at his lap.

“I’ve never seen such a thing,” said Remus, but not in an unkind way. It was matter of fact and he went and picked up a pad of paper and a pen his parents kept by the phone next to the entrance to the hall between the lounge and kitchen. “Could you show me?” he asked.

“Sure,” agreed Severus, taking the paper. A few seconds later, he handed up a competent sketch of a bicycle with what looked like a bar running through the back wheel. “That’s how it looks,” he said.

“Yes, we can definitely transfigure those on without ruining a bike,” said Remus after a moment.

Sirius put a hand on his hip. “Who’s bicycle should it go on?”

“Mine?” suggested Remus. He winced. “No offense Sirius, but you did just learn to ride a few summers ago…”

“I’ve got no problem with that,” said Sirius, shrugging his shoulders. It was true and if Remus thought it best, it probably was. He had a better sense of what was and wasn’t dangerous than him. “Severus?”

“I’m not sure,” his mate answered after a beat of deliberation where he looked first at Sirius, then at Remus.

“I promise I’ll ride carefully,” swore Remus. He sent Sirius a pointed look then. “Unlike _someone_ who wrecked after attempting a wheelie and skinned his back.”

Sirius huffed and crossed his arms. “Peter made it look easy!” he whined, recalling said incident from the summer before. It’d been painful, yes, but also a little embarrassing because he had to not only hold back some tears but rely on his mates to get him to Peter’s mum who could clean his back and patch him up.

Remus made an incredulous sound. “He’s been riding since he was a tyke!” he reminded him. “Of course he did!”

Their sniping appeared to be exactly what Severus needed to choose who he’d ride with. “I will ride with Remus,” he declared, abruptly ending their bickering.

Remus grinned at this and said, smug, to Sirius, “There you are, Sirius.”

“I thought we were _mates_ , Severus,” he whined, giving his friend a pitiful look.

Severus rolled his eyes at his antics. “I quite like having the skin on my back, thank you,” he said.

Sirius put a hand to his chest. “Ouch! You’ve hurt me!”

Remus laughed and gave him a little shove. “Stop it,” he said between snickers. “Let’s go and get the bikes ready. I think the ice cream shoppe opens a little after noon on Sundays.”

-o-O-o-

The ride to town was mostly uneventful. The roads were mostly theirs to ride except for an occasional car, which had them cram into the gravel lining the road to let the car pass. The most interesting moment on the road to town was when they happened upon a tortoise crossing it. 

Remus made them stop then so he could pick it up and place it on the other side. Sirius had tried to convince his friend to let him try jumping over it first, but Remus and Severus had refused to hear him out. Remus had been worried he’d hurt himself during his stunt, and Severus had told him the tortoise didn’t deserve to die because he wanted to act like a fool.

Soon after the encounter with the tortoise, they passed the small road sign that indicated they were within the town’s limits and picked up their pace to reach the main street faster. When they did, Severus insisted on hopping off of Remus’s bicycle and walking. This meant they also decided to walk, to make sure he wasn’t left behind.

“That’s the library,” said Remus, pointing at a little tan-colored stone building with a pair of large white-trimmed windows on the front of the building. “When I was little, Mum would sometimes bring me there to listen to the librarian’s storytime while she ran some errands.”

Sirius nodded. He’d never had storytime as a kid. Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely accurate. Sometimes the tutors his parents hired to teach him and Regulus would read straight out of the books they were learning from at them. 

“It reminds me of the library in the town over from Cokeworth,” said Severus, surprising Sirius. He hadn’t expected he’d contribute so easily to their conversation. “It was grimier,” he said. “Probably because of the factories in the towns nearby,” he mused. “But it has a pair of windows just like that.”

Remus hummed. “Maybe they were built near the same time,” he suggested.

“Maybe,” agreed Severus with a shrug. 

Sirius, who had nothing to contribute to this line of conversation, decided to change the topic by asking, “So, where is the ice cream shoppe?”

Remus tilted his head and squinted at the nearby buildings. “Oh, just off this street,” he said. “I think we have to turn left at the portrait studio and it will be next to this pub named Jason’s or Johnson’s or something.”

He picked up the pace of his step. “Let’s go then,” he urged. Remus and Severus thankfully both quickened their pace to keep up and, soon, they turned the corner Remus had said to and passed the pub (which was named Sutton’s, nothing like Jason’s or Johnson’s at all). 

They stopped in front of the ice cream shoppe, which was painted in a pale yellow and the window was decorated with blue and white banners declaring their products, such as sundaes, soda, malts, and ice cream cones. As Sirius studied the front of the shop, Remus tugged Lyall’s bicycle from his hands. When he looked at him, his mate explained, “I’m just going to lock these up on the tree there.” He gestured at a skinny tree about twice his size planted a little to the left of the ice cream parlor’s door. 

Sirius nodded, and as Remus took care of the bicycles, he said to Severus, “I doubt they have pumpkin flavor.”

Severus frowned. “No,” he said. “Muggles are very narrow in their scope of tastes. You’ll be lucky if you find anything more interesting than strawberry.”

“They have chocolate,” broke in Remus, rejoining them. “Which is all that matters to me.”

Sirius smirked at his friend and went and pulled the parlor’s door open. A little bell chimed above them and as Sirius scoped out the small shoppe, he saw it was quite empty except for the bored old man behind the counter, a pair of teenage girls in one corner of the shop, and a father and mother cleaning up their toddler as they prepared to leave.

“What do you want, Severus?” Sirius asked, smiling at his friend as they walked up to the little display by the register.

He furrowed his brow. “I don’t have money,” he said.

Sirius snorted and Remus winced. “We should have clarified,” Remus said. “ _We’re_ paying.”

Severus shook his head. “No.”

“Severus, let us do this,” pressed Sirius. “Look, we won’t be able to enjoy our ice cream if you’re just staring at us empty-handed the entire time we eat.”

He scowled down at his feet a moment. “When I have money, you will let _me_ buy you some ice cream or another sweet,” he declared as he looked back up at Remus and Sirius.

He nodded easily. If that’d make Severus happy it was fine. Perhaps by then he’d even see it as just treating his mates and not repaying a debt. “Yeah,” he agreed. “No problem.”

“So what flavor would you like, Severus,” asked Remus. 

Sirius watched Severus cast a look over the paltry selection before he said, “Mint.”

Remus nodded. “Sirius?”

He grinned at his friend. “Chocolate, I guess, since there’s no pumpkin.”

The old man behind the counter reacted to that. His eyes shifted to Sirius and the wrinkles around them grew heavier as he squinted at them. “Pumpkin flavor? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Sirius shrugged off the comment. “Maybe it’s just local to the parlor near our boarding school in Scotland,” he replied.

The old man grunted. “How odd,” he muttered before he asked, “you boys want cones or dishes?”

“Cones,” Sirius answered for all of them after a quick glance shared with Remus and Severus.

The man quickly put together their ice creams and handed them over. He then moved to the register and rattled off the price, which Remus paid because he was the only one with Muggle money. After they finished their exchange, the three of them decided they’d eat on the path outside under the meager shade of the tree the bikes were secured to. 

As they ate, they talked about the coming school year, subjects they were looking forward to and ones they weren’t. A few times they quieted themselves; once when the couple with their toddler left the parlor, then again as a man in a hat hurried past them on his way to Sutton’s. Finally, the bells of the parlor rang again, and they quieted for a third time. 

It was the teenage girls. Sirius realized they were actually near about their age then. One was a soft kind of curvy that indicated she was carrying a little extra weight while there was little to note at all about the girl she was with. She was average in almost every way from size and height to her brown hair and brown eyes. If it weren’t for her thick glasses, which drew the eye to her face, he’d have not even noticed the light scar on her upper lip.

Instead of smiling and turning away to leave as the couple and toddler had, the girls stayed rooted to their spot in the middle of the path. The average girl waved at them. “Uh, ‘lo,” she greeted. 

“Hello,” returned Remus, being polite on all of their behalfs. Sirius continued to stare at them unabashedly while Severus ignored all four of them in favor of keeping his attention on his quickly shrinking ice cream cone.

The girls shuffled in place and looked at one another before the curvy girl commented, “I don’t recognize you from school.” She twirled a lock of dirty blonde hair on one of her dimpled fingers. “Are you visiting someone?”

Sirius smirked and Remus shook his head. “No, well, _I’m_ not visiting. I live a bit in the country not far from town,” he explained. “Most of the year, though, I go to a boarding school in Scotland with these two.” Remus smirked and knocked shoulders with Sirius and then, after a moment of hesitation, with Severus. “ _They_ are visiting me, though.”

The girls’ eyes lit up with interest. “Really?” said the average one. She looked at Sirius and Severus. “Are you staying long?” she asked them.

Sirius shrugged. “It’s my last day visiting,” he answered.

Interestingly, the girl didn’t look disappointed by this. She was smiling at him, but she was looking slightly to the side at Severus. Realizing it was him who’d caught her eye, he held back a chuckle. That was a good thing, he thought. It wouldn’t do to have birds after him when he was trying to feel out a relationship with Joan. 

Feeling he could use her interest to his advantage to pressure Severus just a little into staying with Remus, he commented, “Though, maybe you’ll see a little bit more of Remus and Severus this summer around town.” He clapped a hand on Remus’s shoulder and told the girl, who was staring bright-eyed at him, “Severus’s thinking about staying here with Remus’s family.”

Severus, who was brought to the sudden realization he could not just ignore the girls until they went away any longer, looked up from his ice cream cone and directly at Sirius. “Sirius,” he hissed.

The girls hardly noticed his shortness, far too fascinated at the possibility they’d be in town _more_. “Oh?” replied the curvy girl. “Your parents don’t mind? Surely if you’re at school all year…”

Severus glowered not at them, but Sirius. He held back a sigh. Small mercies, he supposed, that Severus had decided to direct his ire at the right person and not the girl who was just trying to chitchat.

“Oh, I’m sure you know how it is,” murmured Remus, cupping his chin in one hand and looking up at the duo. “We’re graduating next year and there’s just been a bit too much rowing about his future,” he fibbed behind his fingers. “Severus just wants a break.”

The girls nodded. “Oh yes,” agreed the average girl, a small frown on her face. “My parents are not excited at all that I want to try to get into uni instead of just settle down with a boy in town.”

“What do you want to study?” asked Severus, surprising Sirius with his cordiality and interest. Maybe he had noticed she was curious about him? 

The girl brightened. “Psychology,” she said. “I think it’s just fascinating. Have you heard of the little Albert experiment?” she asked. “It’s terribly interesting how this psychologist, Watson, conditioned a baby to be afraid of the sight of things like rats and plain wool just by making a loud noise when the baby, Albert, saw them.”

Sirius wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t sure that was fascinating. It seemed rather obvious to him that it’d be easy to make a baby scared of things if you really wanted to. Severus, however, did seem taken by the idea and looked down the street in the direction of the town’s main street. “Does the library have literature on this experiment?” he asked.

The girl nodded. “I bet they do,” she said. “It’s rather famous.”

“Hm.”

“Would you like to help him find it?” asked Remus. “Next Saturday maybe?”

The girl smiled, clearly excited at the thought of an afternoon at the library (if it was the prospect of it being with Severus, or just to discuss this psychology stuff, Sirius couldn’t say).

Severus gaped at Remus, but Remus ignored him in favor of saying to the girl, “He can be in town about ten, will that work for you…?”

“Tina,” she said. Only to flush a little and mumble, “Well, _Bet_ tina.”

“Tina,” repeated Remus, smiling. “Severus will meet you outside,” he told her.

The girl’s, Tina’s chin lifted as she grinned. It was clear to Sirius she was proud to have gotten Severus (or rather, Remus) to agree to seeing her again to talk about something she liked. “I look forward to seeing you, Severus,” she declared, looking at Severus, who stared back at her. He was no longer gaping, but he was wide-eyed and his hands were balled into very tight fists that promised there would be an explosion when the girls went.

“It was nice meeting you, Tina,” Remus said. He looked at the curvy girl, who nodded at him.

“I’m Debra,” she told them.

“And you, Debra,” Remus finished.

The girls shared one last look with each other before they left, heads bent close as they, without a doubt, discussed the three of them. Once they’d disappeared onto the town’s main street, Severus snapped, “What in the bloody Hell are you doing, Lupin?”

Remus shrugged. “You were interested in the experiment,” he argued. “I thought you’d like her help finding stuff on it and other things.”

“I won’t be here!” he shouted.

Sirius sighed. Well. That wasn’t encouraging. What did he and Remus need to do to convince him that staying with the Lupins was exactly how he should spend the rest of his summer? He’d have to find the answer quickly. Time was running out.

“You can disapparate in,” replied Remus, not the least bit ruffled. “What’s the problem? She seems nice and clever,” he said. “If you really don’t like her after your morning together, say you and your family made up and you’ll be going back home, and then you won’t ever have to see her again.”

Severus was red in the face, but it seemed he had no good argument against Remus’s plan as he got to his feet and stomped a few steps away, cursing beneath his breath. When he turned back around, he pointed at Remus and snapped, “I want the bloody footholds moved onto Sirius’s bicycle!”

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. They both appeared to be in agreement it was a silly demand, however, instead of refusing, Remus exhaled. “Sure,” he agreed. “Maybe when we get back to my house we can let you give riding the bike itself a go. If you’re lucky it won’t be too hard to learn and then you won’t have to ride with either of us again.”

Severus made a noise of frustration. “I do not like you, Lupin,” he growled.

“I think I can live with that,” he replied. “Just so long as you continue to respect my parents and house while you’re staying,” he added as he moved to unlock the bikes from the tree. “They have only been nice to you.”

Severus’s bristling died down a little. “For some reason,” he mumbled. 

Sirius wanted to tear at his hair. The reason was because the Lupins’ _cared_! How did he get it through to Severus that was their only motive? He knew he couldn’t just say it, Severus would disbelieve him entirely. Maybe he would have to talk to Lyall when they got back to Remus’s home. If Hope hadn’t convinced Severus they wanted to help him out of a simple sense of caring for their fellow man, perhaps he could. Lyall was a very straightforward sort and maybe that frankness would cause a last-minute epiphany for Severus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How have you liked the first half of Sirius, Remus, and Severus's Sunday? 
> 
> Thank you for reading and please let me know your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo :)


	7. VII

Severus had just turned to a new poem in Hope’s book when Mr. Lupin walked into his family’s kitchen. He watched the man pause mid-stride out of the corner of his eye. His expression was surprised, but not upset. He relaxed the tightened grip he had on Hope’s book when Mr. Lupin smiled at him. 

To Severus’s relief, instead of coming over to join him at the kitchen table, the wizard went to the room’s stove and picked up the kettle. He looked inside it before taking it to the sink and filling it with water the Muggle-way. Once he put it back on the stove and turned on the burner, Mr. Lupin turned around to face Severus. He leaned back against the counter next to the oven and crossed his arms. “What are you doing in here, lad?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious and not even slightly accusing.

Even so, Severus tensed and felt he had to explain himself. “Remus said it was all right to read inside without him,” he said, frowning at the man.

Mr. Lupin stood a little straighter and nodded his head. “Of course it is!” he assured him. The wizard then turned his gaze to the window set in the door to his garden. He squinted through the curtains and asked, “Just where are my son and Sirius?”

“Flying,” Severus replied.

The wizard’s face turned to one of puzzlement. “You didn’t want to join them?”

He shrugged, uncomfortable. “I’ve had enough of looking like a fool trying to learn to ride a bicycle,” he admitted with some reluctance. 

After returning from town, Sirius and Lupin had convinced him to give riding Lupin’s bike a try on the road in front of the Lupin home. He’d not been half as awful at it as he feared he would be, but he’d fallen off the bike once trying to turn it around and nearly ran into Hope’s car parked in the drive twice. Once he had to jump from the moving bicycle to avoid crashing into the boot. 

Thankfully, neither Lupin nor Sirius laughed at the times he fell and instead asked if he wanted hands up or if he was hurt. Severus had taken Sirius’s hand once, the first time he fell. He was hurt, but it was only a graze on his knee that neither Lupin nor Sirius could see it thanks to his trousers. So, he hadn’t mentioned it. 

Instead, he’d kept at learning to ride until he could travel up and down the road without incident. He was still shaky when turning, but Severus felt he could now say he knew how to ride a bike. At that point, they’d come inside for some drinks of water and lunch. As they fixed themselves sandwiches, Sirius suggested they go broom riding after lunch. Severus had declined and said he’d rather read for a bit but promised they could play one of Lupin’s Muggle boardgames or Exploding Snaps when Lupin and he finished.

His mate had seemed keen to argue with him, but Lupin, to Severus’s grudging gratitude, stepped up and taken Severus’s side. He convinced Sirius letting Severus take a break was a good idea and then they ate lunch. After they finished and cleaned up, Sirius and Lupin went outside again and left Severus to read.

“Ah, I remember when I learned to ride a bike,” said Mr. Lupin, drawing Severus from his reverie. His eyes seemed to turn inward and he chuckled. “It was shortly before I proposed to Hope. I’d told her I’d never ridden before and she insisted I learn.”

Severus couldn’t help himself. A smirk quirked at the corners of his lips. “How did that go for you?” he asked.

Mr. Lupin sighed and the kettle beside him began to whistle. “I ran into a tree,” he admitted as he went about preparing himself a cup of tea.

Severus winced. “Sorry.”

Stirring a cube of sugar into his steeping tea, Mr. Lupin shrugged and turned to the fridge. He took out a jug of milk and poured some of it into his cup. When he finished, the wizard came and sat in a chair across the table from Severus.

“Ah, it’s quite alright,” he said. “It was a rather interesting experience in the end, she took me to see a Muggle healer and I was told I had a concussion.” 

Severus hadn’t been entirely sure before this moment. Mr. Lupin was clearly a wizard, but he was so comfortable with Muggle things that sometimes Severus had pondered if it was because he was born in it, not because he married into it. “You’re not a Muggle-born then?” he questioned.

Mr. Lupin shook his head. “No!” he answered empathetically. He squinted at Severus for a brief moment. “I reckon my son hasn’t mentioned how I met my wife?”

“It hasn’t come up, no.”

The wizard nodded. “I rescued her from a boggart in a forest just outside Cardiff and we began dating thereafter.” He smiled and took a sip of his tea. “Of course, she didn’t know the whole story with the boggart until after I proposed…”

Severus blinked at the admission. “You told her before you wed?”

“It only seemed right,” he replied, nonchalant. Mr. Lupin then tilted his head and looked at Severus with a more critical eye. “When did your mother tell your father?”

“After she couldn’t explain away some accidental magic I did when I was two or so,” he answered. Severus had been told this a few times growing up. Always when his mother was lamenting on the “before” when Dad was a halfway decent husband who didn’t spend the majority of his paycheck on the drink. 

Something like a grimace passed over Mr. Lupin’s features. “Ah,” he replied, the disapproval he felt seeping into his tone.

He couldn’t help but bristle. His mother hadn’t been _wrong_ to keep magic to herself for so long. “There are statutes, you know, that dictate you aren’t supposed to tell Muggles about magic,” he reminded the man. 

Mr. Lupin nodded. “Yes, there are,” he agreed, voice cool. “However, does it really seem right to you to enter a marriage with such a large secret?”

Severus didn’t have to think long. “I just wouldn’t marry a Muggle,” he answered, mulishly. “It’d save me the trouble.”

The wizard snorted and drank from his cup a moment. “Ah, if only love worked that way.”

“People fall in love plenty of times,” argued Severus, thinking of housemates he’d seen go through strings of relationships, each time declaring love for their latest partner.

Mr. Lupin grinned at him. “You may have a point there, I’ll give you that.”

The wizard seemed like he was willing to drop the topic. However, Severus shifted in his seat, feeling an itch growing. He had a question and he needed to know the answer of someone other than his mother. “…If she hadn’t liked that you were a wizard, would you have still married?” he asked Mr. Lupin.

“I reckon not,” he answered. “It’s not exactly something you can turn off. Not to mention marriage often means children. You know as well as I that little wizards and witches rarely have great control of their magic before Hogwarts. If Hope hadn’t like my being a wizard, she’d have hated our child’s uncontrolled magic.” His face twisted with pain. “I imagine we’d all have been very miserable if she couldn’t accept my or our children’s magic.”

“Oh,” said Severus in a quiet, small voice. If Mum had told Dad about magic before they married, would they have? Severus wasn’t sure. Dad probably would have left, making the decision for her.

“So what book are you borrowing from Hope anyway?” questioned Mr. Lupin, changing the topic and shaking him from his wondering.

He blinked. “Hm?” he mumbled, glancing at Hope’s book. Severus lifted it, using his thumb to mark his spot in it as he closed the collection and showed Mr. Lupin the cover. “It’s an anthology of Edgar Poe’s poems.”

The man leaned closer a moment before settling back in his seat and grinning. “Ah, I think I remember which he is,” he said. “He’s _The Tell-Tale Heart’s_ author, isn’t he?”

Severus furrowed his brows and turned the book back around to face him. Opening to the index, he began to scan the titles. “Is it a poem? I don’t recognize the name.”

“A short story,” Mr. Lupin replied.

Severus stopped looking. This was a collection of poems only. Opening the book back to where he left off, Severus put the book down on the table. “I’ll look into that one later then, but I imagine you are right,” he answered.

Mr. Lupin nodded. “That’s quite a collection,” he remarked, eyeing the book meaningfully. “But you’ve seemed to have gotten through a lot of them.”

Severus averted his gaze. “I’ve been skipping around actually,” he admitted. “I wanted to make sure I read all of the poems that sounded the most interesting before tomorrow. I reckoned Hope would be happier if I didn’t take it with me.” Mr. Lupin frowned and Severus’s heart rate picked up. He wasn’t sure how he misstepped. Had he made Hope sound uncharitable? “I’m sure Hope would swear she wouldn’t care if I took it, but there are notes in this book. I think she quite likes this addition and I don’t want to make her worry even if it’s just occasionally.”

Mr. Lupin’s frown did not lessen. Instead, his look intensified with what Severus read as clear unhappiness. Severus began to fidget with his wand. “So you’re going tomorrow?” the wizard demanded.

Severus winced. “I do appreciate letting me stay,” he assured Mr. Lupin. “You didn’t have to.”

Mr. Lupin turned his gaze to his nearly empty teacup. He sighed heavily and his shoulders fell. “Hope and Remus have told you you’re welcome to stay as long as you want, haven’t they?” he asked when he looked back up, gaze searching.

He was stunned. Mr. Lupin knew they’d offered? Even though each time it’d been in a moment of emotion? Severus was sure they wouldn’t have said anything after their offers to one another. People often said things they didn’t (fully) mean when they were in heightened states of distress or happiness. “…You know about their offers?” he whispered.

Mr. Lupin’s face changed again. It seemed tied between surprise and frustration. “Severus, lad, of course I do,” said Mr. Lupin, leaning forward over the table once more. He looked as if he wanted to take Severus in his hands and either shake him or hug him. Severus wasn’t sure which he’d be more alarmed by. “We’re a family and we discuss big changes like these.”

Severus was quiet for a moment after his admission. Finally, he asked, “Did you _always_ expect to have me stay?”

The wizard chuckled at the question. In response to the reaction, Severus scowled. Mr. Lupin stopped laughing and sobered himself then. Staring Severus directly in the eye, he explained, “The way my wife and I saw this weekend was as a trial run to know if this would work. If you seemed truly miserable or not that bad off as Sirius described, we would have let you go home to your father if you wanted.” Mr. Lupin broke his gaze with Severus and he sounded mournful as he said, “However, it seems Sirius wasn’t being dramatic and you do have a poor relationship with your father.”

Severus shifted in his chair, uncomfortable. He didn’t like seeing Mr. Lupin appear so upset on his behalf. Especially when things really weren’t so terrible. Friday had been an off day with his dad. “It’s not that bad anymore,” he reassured Mr. Lupin. “Usually, we ignore each other.”

This did not appear to comfort the man.“That’s no way to live,” he said in a steely tone Severus couldn’t argue with.

He huffed. “Hmph.”

Mr. Lupin sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “We’re getting off-topic,” he said. The wizard laid his hands out on the table, palms up and beseeching. “Lad, what I want _you_ to know is you have a place here,” he told Severus. “You can stay for the rest of the summer. You can even come back next summer if you like. My wife and I want you to be someplace you’ll be safe, fed, comfortable and, hopefully, happy.”

Severus turned the offer over in his head. Admittedly, he was quite surprised. He hadn’t actually believed this weekend would end with each Lupin requesting he stay. He was sure he’d turn off at least one of Lupin’s parents at some point. Severus licked his lips. Even if he _did_ want to accept the offer, he should make sure it was actually a good one. “What do you want if I stay?” he asked, wondering if he wouldn’t be made to do particularly unpleasant chores to earn his keep. “It’s one thing if I stay a weekend versus a whole summer.”

Mr. Lupin relaxed, the smallest of smiles playing at the corners of his lips. “Not terribly much,” he answered. “We’d expect you to do chores without too much whinging. The dishes after a meal, maybe help with mowing the grass outside, keeping your room tidy. That sort of thing.” Severus nodded. That was better than he hoped. It also sounded quite doable. Mr. Lupin knocked on the table then with a knuckle, drawing Severus’s gaze to his own. “I also expect respect toward myself, wife, and Remus too,” he said sternly. Then, lighter, he added, “We’ll show you the same, of course. I also think you are already aware of how my wife feels about insulting people?”

Severus dipped his chin. “Yes.”

“Good,” said Mr. Lupin leaning back in his chair with a broad smile. He drank down the rest of his tea and then placed his cup back down with a solid thud. “As long as you do your part to keep this house in order and treat everyone respectfully we’ll have no issues.”

The expectations felt too easy, too simple. However, Severus also knew he couldn’t be _forced_ to stay if new rules came up or the Lupins’ idea of what was “his part” changed. At the very least, Severus saw he could get maybe a couple of weeks reprieve from his dad here. 

He decided to accept the deal.

“I agree to your terms,” he said primly.

Mr. Lupin’s eyes flitted through excitement, relief, and happiness. “You’re staying?” he said.

He huffed. “Yes.”

The wizard got up and came to Severus’s side of the table. Carefully, he watched him. Mr. Lupin was smiling as he lowered his hands to rest on Severus’s shoulders. He made sure not to tense, but still gave a little jolt when Mr. Lupin’s hands gave him a strong, almost affectionate squeeze. “Welcome home, Severus.”

Home.

It was too early for Severus to think of here as such, but… Maybe someday. It’d be nice, he thought. He hadn’t had a place to call such since his mum died. All the same, he showed the wizard his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Lyall.”

The man’s grip strengthened again for a passing moment. “You’re welcome,” he said and let go of Severus.

-o-O-o-

The five of them were sitting around the dining room table. Lyall and Hope next to one another, Severus between Hope and Sirius, and Lupin on his father’s right and Sirius’s left. The atmosphere was a little off, but Severus didn’t pay it much mind. It was coming from Lupin and Sirius, not Hope and Lyall, so he felt little need to worry.

“A lovely meal as always, my love,” Lyall complimented his wife as he finished his porkchop and carrots. 

Hope smiled. “You’re welcome,” she replied. Then, to Severus, said, “Lyall mentioned he saw you’d gotten through quite a few of Poe’s poems. Do you have any favorites yet?” 

“Of those I’ve read, I liked _The City in the Sea_ and _Sonnet – To Science_ ,” Severus answered after taking a moment to consider. He had felt there was something suspicious about the city in _The City in the Sea_ and he knew the waves becoming red was not a good sign at all. Though, he had yet to entirely figure out what was wrong with the city. Severus was sure it would come to him with time. As for the sonnet, he’d found it far more straightforward in the way Poe lamented about the way Muggle science was putting ends to myths and stories. He liked it nevertheless.

Hope nodded at his answers. “They’re quite different from each other,” she said. “I think I understand Poe’s fears in the Sonnet. New discoveries have a way of taking the mystery from life, which isn’t exactly helpful for a poet! _A City in the Sea_ … I can’t say it’s one I enjoy.” She pursed her lips. “But then I’ve never found fables to be terribly thrilling.”

“It’s a fable?”

“In essence,” replied Hope. She pointed her fork at him and asked, “Did you notice how everything is described in a way that hints at the citizens being sinful? Or the way it’s not a sorry thing to see it sink into the sea?” She leaned back in her chair and sighed. “The poem warns against overindulgence,” explained Hope.

Severus who had been listening closely nodded his head, understanding what she meant. “The waves turned red,” he remarked. “The city went to Hell.”

Hope grinned. “Yes,” she answered.

He hummed. “I’ll need to read it again now,” he commented. “It will be even more interesting.”

Hope laughed at his comment. Lyall grinned at her amusement and Severus’s own mouth twitched into a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he noticed Sirius shift in his seat, brows furrowing. Severus turned his head and gave his mate a questioning look. “Sirius?” he prompted. “Do you have something to say?”

“ _Not_ about the poems,” he replied emphatically. He flushed a little when this earned him frowns from Severus and Hope. He sank a little in his seat and turned his eyes to his mostly eaten dinner. “…So, it’s Sunday evening,” he mumbled.

Severus rolled his eyes. “Yes,” he replied. “That’s very observant of you, Sirius.”

“Severus, don’t tease your friend,” Hope chided him in a mock-stern tone. Really, she seemed to find his indirect questioning to be humorous if the brightness of her eyes was to be believed. Her timber growing warm, she put her elbow on the table and chin in her hand. She smiled at Sirius. “You know he’s being sensitive to your feelings.”

He snorted as Sirius pulled a face of disgust. “Hope, ew,” he complained.

She giggled and Severus sighed. “Very well,” he agreed, though he didn’t give an answer to the question Sirius and Lupin were thrumming in their seats from.

Lyall huffed. “Are you going to tell them then, lad?” he asked, not quite rebuking his behavior, but showing he didn’t exactly approve. However, his stern expression changed and a smirk crossed his face. “Ah, are you going to surprise them in the morning?” he asked.

Severus would have. Really, he’d been curious to see how long it would take Sirius and Lupin (no, it was better to refer to him as Remus now. If his parents were Hope and Lyall, it was only right Severus call him by his first name too) to realize he was going to stay the rest of the summer on their own. However, Lyall’s question made his intentions far clearer than the wizard probably intended. Sirius’s cheeks were pink and he was sharing a wide-eyed, satisfied grin with an equally proud Remus. Severus leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “I think you’ve given it away, Lyall,” he said.

That seemed to be the admission Sirius was waiting for as he jumped from his seat, it falling behind him with a loud clatter. He wrapped his arms around Severus in a fierce, almost constricting embrace around his shoulders and neck. “You’re staying!” he hollered into Severus’s ear, making him wince.

“Yes,” he replied, patting his mate’s beater-strengthened arms. “Now, let me go and pick up your chair.”

Sirius followed his advice. As he sat back down, he chattered, “That’s wicked, Severus! You and Remus are going to have a great time. You can finish learning to ride a bicycle and then he can show you how that pogo stick in his shed works too!”

He blinked at his friend and frowned. “Sorry, when did I agree to learn how to use that deathtrap?” he demanded, crossing his arms. Severus knew just how dangerous those sticks were. “I watched a boy on Spinner’s End break an arm on one of those.”

Sirius gave a flippant wave of his hand and began to eat his dinner with an interest he’d previously lacked. “They are rather risky I guess,” he replied between bites. “You don’t have to learn how to ride it.” He scrunched up his nose and exchanged a glance with Remus who was in the midst of sipping from his water glass. “We could just work on your broom tricks instead?”

Severus pursed his lips. “…You’re trying to make me spend my summer outside, aren’t you?” he demanded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hope and Lyall share a delighted look. It was as if they were getting a dream made a reality in front of them as they watched him, Remus, and Sirius argue about something as stupid as what to spend their summer doing.

Completely straight-faced, Sirius argued, “We can read as much as we like in the winter at school.”

“ _We_?” he sputtered because that was _not_ at all what the winter was going to look like. The most Sirius read was the sports section in the _Daily Prophet_ and maybe the occasional Quidditch magazine. If anything, he was going to whine at Severus to explore the castle with him because he was bored.

Remus, thankfully, knew just how ridiculous their friend was being and said, “Sirius, people can spend the summer reading too.”

“Thank you!” huffed Severus.

The other teenager gave him a smile. “Better yet, instead of doing either to an extreme, we can do a blend.”

Severus scowled, the budding comradery in his chest abruptly squelched. Sirius, who’d been looking put-out a moment ago, was now less so and more speculative. “I won’t be around _too_ much,” he said slowly. “I live with James and his parents for one, but also there will be Joan…”

Severus’s heart twinged. He knew that Sirius wasn’t meaning to, but he felt he’d been placed in second-place. Severus should have known it would happen once Sirius felt he’d “saved” him. However it still—

“You better be ready to ride a broom or bike every Thursday, Severus!” exclaimed Sirius, pointing a finger in his face.

He batted it away and frowned. “What?”

“I’ve decided that’s the day I’m going to always hang out with you.”

He blinked and repeated, “What?”

Sirius shrugged. “It’s better if we just pick a day,” he explained. “We can’t end up with scheduling conflicts if we always know we have plans together on Thursdays.”

He gaped. “You want to see me _every week_?”

His mate made a scoffing noise. “Duh!” he replied. “And that’s just _at least_.”

“I thought…” he mumbled only to trail off and look at his mostly empty dinner plate.

“What is it, Severus?” asked Remus, voice concerned.

He bit the inside of his cheek. When he looked up they were _all_ staring at him. He looked away again. “I didn’t think you’d want to meet up that frequently. You _did_ already spend an excessive amount of time with me this year attempting to befriend me and then getting to know me as your friend.”

Sirius grinned. “Nope,” he replied. “You’re my mate and I like to spend pretty much all my time with them.”

He nodded. Severus was wondering now why he’d thought things would change so drastically from the school year to now. Sirius had made it extremely clear he was never going to leave Severus alone after the incident at the beginning of the year. Of course it extended well past the school year. “Right,” he said. 

Seemingly satisfied by his reply, Sirius began to eat again and after a moment, Remus joined him. Severus watched a while and idly tapped his fork on his plate in contemplation. Finally, he said, “Before you go back to the Potters’ tomorrow, will you do one more thing with me?” 

Sirius swallowed the food in his mouth and bobbed his head. “Yeah, of course,” he agreed.

“Come with me to my Dad’s,” he said. “I need to pick up my trunk,” he explained. “I’d rather just have someone with me in case he’s home for whatever reason.” He looked at Remus. “You’re also welcome to come along,” he added.

“I will,” replied Remus.

Sirius, for his part, was surprisingly somber of expression as he said, “I’ll help.”

A twinge in his back disappeared at his friend’s reply. Severus hadn’t realized, but he’d grown taut in anticipation of Sirius’s answer. Which was stupid of him to do. Sirius would have never said no to this request. He probably would have agreed to even more unpleasant tasks to see Cokeworth. 

Still, the relief was there and it had settled over him like a warming charm on a winter’s day. He favored both Sirius and Remus with a small smile. “Thank you,” he said. “We’ll go after breakfast.” He looked to Hope and Lyall. “That’s okay, right?”

Hope’s gaze was kind. “Yes,” she answered for herself and Lyall, who’d reached over and taken her hand at some point. “Remember, we’re just a call away if you need us,” she said.

Severus couldn’t explain why if he tried, but knowing she and Lyall were was reassuring. Tomorrow’s trip to Cokeworth was not going to be half as awful as he’d feared thanks to her. As well as because he would not be staying there. He finished his drink of water and mused this was probably the first time he was halfway excited to go to Cokeworth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Severus is staying! Exciting news, right? I hope you enjoyed his chat with Lyall.
> 
> Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo :)
> 
> Also, in other news, if anyone reads ATLA/LoK fanfics in addition to HP, I've uploaded my first multichapter for the fandoms. It's called a [The Prince's Return](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27835936/chapters/68147545). The summary is:
>
>> While Zuko and Toph are taking a stroll through the Republic City's spirit wilds, Zuko becomes the victim of spirit shenanigans. Now, his grandson, Iroh, gets to experience Prince Zuko firsthand.


	8. VIII

Sirius tried to not appear too shocked as he trailed a step behind Severus down increasingly more derelict streets of Cokeworth. He’d known within moments of meeting Severus when they were eleven he’d not grown up even half as privileged as him, but over the years, it’d become less and less noticeable. Severus had learned to hide his background and mimic the posher students of Slytherin. 

Yet he’d never realized he’d grown up _this_ badly off. 

Sirius looked at Remus who walked beside him. His mate did not return his stare with surprise in his eyes, but with a hard glint. It felt to Sirius that Remus was reproaching him. He probably deserved it. Sirius knew Severus probably would have never appreciated being treated with gentle hands because of his background, but they also shouldn’t have been so ruthless over the years either. Clearly, he’d gone without for far more things than Sirius could ever imagine.

Severus shouldn’t have had to go without peace his last five years at Hogwarts also.

He was torn from his guilt when Severus stopped abruptly in front of a particular brick rowhouse with a flowerpot by the door that looked suspiciously like a cauldron. In it, there were half-dead weeds. Sirius couldn’t help but wonder if it’d grown useful things once. Perhaps when Severus’s mother was alive to tend to the pot regularly.

“This is it,” said Severus, looking over his shoulder at the two of them. “You don’t have to come in. I had most things packed from school still anyway,” he told them.

Sirius clasped his hands behind his back and looked around. There weren’t a lot of people outside right now. It was early on a Monday morning, he supposed. Fathers were off at work, possibly a few mothers too, and the children they’d passed on their way here had been few and far between. He suspected a lot of them were still in their beds asleep. If he were honest, Sirius would be asleep now too if Severus hadn’t forced him awake at seven to get ready to leave the Lupins’ at nine. 

Still, he imagined people had noticed the three of them walking around. While they may have not thought a lot of Severus, their neighbor, they’d quite likely begun to speculate about him and Remus. He turned his stare back to Severus. “Waiting out here would be rather suspicious, don’t you think?”

Severus rolled his eyes at him and scoffed. “The neighbors are far from nosey on Spinner’s End.”

He pursed his lips. “I’m _thirsty_ ,” complained Sirius, hopeful that would get him entry to Severus’s childhood home. He didn’t know why he wanted to see it, because just walking the bloody streets had given him plenty of new revelations, but the itch was there and it’d only be satisfied by going inside.

“You are not going to bloody stop until I agree to let you in, are you?” demanded Severus, half turning to face them, arms crossed and expression pained.

Sirius decided there was no reason to beat around the broom. “No,” he answered.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before he reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a piece of paper. “Remus, I wrote down your family’s address and phone number,” he said. Shoving the paper at other boy, he asked, “Would you deliver it across the street to Mrs. Hatman or her sister? Let one of them know that number and address is where they can reach me should Dad do something infuriating, like die or set the house on fire, in my absence.”

“Sure,” agreed Remus with a surprised blink. He hesitated a beat before he said, “After…?”

Severus looked to the sky. “You may come in.”

“Thanks, Severus,” replied Remus as he brought the scrap of paper nearer to him.

He grunted at Remus before tilting his head at the house and saying to Sirius, “Let’s go.”

Sirius followed Severus into his family’s home and looked around with furrowed brows. The little hallway they were in lacked all but a coat rack by the door and a battered table with a phone next to a staircase. “This place is kind of sparse,” he commented as he trailed after Severus up the stairs and onto the equally empty first floor. All there was in this corridor was a threadbare rug (that may have been green once but was now a brownish color with green undertones) running down the length of the hall.

Severus didn’t pause at his comment but opened a door instead. “We have no money for clutter,” he replied, look at him with a severe frown.

Sirius gestured at the walls empty of all but a cracked sconce. “You don’t even have any family photos, paintings, or anything really…”

“Not in the halls,” replied Severus as he stepped into the room, leaving Sirius alone in the corridor. “There are a couple of photos in the living room above the mantle. One is of my Muggle Gran and the other a family portrait from when I was probably eight or nine. It was taken when Dad couldn’t talk his way out of letting a coworker play photographer after a Christmas mass he dragged us to.” Sirius gathered up the courage to finally follow Severus into the room just in time to catch him smirking at the memory he was relaying. “Dad didn’t make Mum and me go to church after that again,” he said.

Taking in the new room, he realized it had to be Severus’s bedroom. There was a narrow bed tucked up against one wall and a chest of drawers placed against the wall opposite to the bed. Next to the drawers was Severus’s school trunk. “I’ve never been to a church meeting,” he said, looking over at Severus, who had his back to him. “What’s it like?” he asked as he watched his friend bring out his wand.

“Boring,” replied Severus, short.

He furrowed his brows. Severus’s answer had been quite curt. He wondered was else happened at the church besides the picture incident. Sirius made the choice to leave it for the time being in favor of walking over to sit on Severus’s bed as his friend worked on taking out his wand and filling his trunk with clothes from the chest of drawers and levitating a few odds and ends (books mostly) from a shelf and desk in the corner of the room diagonal from the bed.

“It’s a bit dark in here,” he said as he traced the crochet bedspread that covered Severus’s bed. It was made of a black square pattern with each square holding a different primary colored circle. As his fingers roved over the blanket, he looked around for a light. The only one was a wall sconce, like the one in the hall, next to Severus’s door. Unfortunately, the switch for it was out of his reach so he couldn’t turn it on.

Severus shrugged as he closed the lid on his trunk and shrunk it. “There also was never money for excess lamps,” he said while pocketing his now wallet-sized trunk.

Sirius leaned back until his back met the wall and remarked, “Must have been scary when you were a tyke.”

Severus looked right at him for the first time since they came into his bedroom. He furrowed his brows, puzzlement clear on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Kids, they’re often afraid of the dark, you know?” replied Sirius, gesturing at the dim room. The curtains over the room’s window were closed, but Sirius didn’t think it’d be much brighter even if Severus pushed them open. It was gray outside and a rain shower seemed inevitable. 

“I rather liked it,” said Severus, staring past Sirius and at the wall he'd pressed himself against. “It was much harder to be seen.”

He winced. Sirius never knew how to respond when Severus decided to be so frank. “Sometimes, I want to think you’re joking, but I don’t think you are,” he admitted after a moment.

Severus briefly looked at him again before turning toward his bedroom door. “No,” he agreed as he started to leave.

He sighed and began to push himself off the bed. However, as he did, he felt parchment crumple beneath his hand. He stopped and picked it up. As he turned it over to inspect, he called out to Severus, “What’s this?”

As Severus’s head popped back into the room, Sirius realized that the parchment appeared to be a letter. “Give me that!” roared the other boy, bounding over and trying to rip it from his hand.

With reflexes honed from years of quidditch, Sirius ducked away from Severus just in time and stood up, placing himself at the end of the bed. “It looks like a letter,” he said as he tried to read the content of it in the low light filtering through the blue curtains over the room’s lone window. “Who’s it from? Joan?” he asked as he tried to find a name at the end. It didn’t look like Joan’s writing, though. It was a bit shaky like it was written by an unpracticed hand. Or perhaps a hurried one. He frowned. “Someone else?” demanded Sirius, giving a tense Severus a critical, searching look.

“Stop looking at me like that!” snapped Severus, hands going to his hips. “I haven’t been writing to anyone who’s a part of or keen to be a part of You-Know-Who.”

Sirius felt a little stab of guilt. It had been wrong of him to make that accusation. Severus had made large strides since they became friends to show he could and would rebuff wannabe Death-Eaters on his own. While Sirius wasn’t always too certain if Severus understood just how truly awful their cause was, there was no doubt in his mind Severus did understand it upset Sirius to see him try and be involved. Thankfully, somehow, he’d found a way to make their friendship have more value than whatever the Death-Eater wannabes were offering. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, offering up the letter for Severus to take. As his friend plucked it from his fingers, Sirius assured him, “I do trust you, I just worry.” He offered an apologetic smile. “Please don’t be cross.”

Severus stared at him a moment and then sighed. “Here, it’s just a letter I wrote to myself before I was fixed in the fall,” he said, pushing the letter back at Sirius to take.

After a brief moment of shock, he did. As he scanned over the letter, he realized it was detailing everything that happened to them. He felt his cheeks warm as he did so. Boy-Severus spoke highly of him — more highly than he deserved. Sirius had been a right arse the first day or so they were together. “…Do you actually remember being eight?” he asked when he finally looked up.

Looking just as uncomfortable as he felt, Severus looked away. “Somewhat,” he replied, evasive. “The letter filled in the blanks I had.”

He nodded. So that probably meant the whole incident had slotted itself somewhere in Severus’s memories from when he was really eight and not in his recollections of this last year. He folded up the letter but hesitated to give it back quite yet. “What was this doing out?” he questioned. Except for clothes and a few odds and ends, it seemed Severus hadn’t taken much at all out of his school trunk. No doubt this had come from there.

Sirius’s mate pursed his lips, clearly deliberating how to answer him. “I was thinking about burning it when Dad paid me his visit to discuss my future,” he admitted, crossing his arms.

He gaped, indignant on behalf of the little kid who’d so painstakingly written to Severus about the things that had happened to them. “You want to burn this!” he shouted, waving it up in the air. “You’d take this from yourself?”

Severus half-turned away and said, “I have it mostly memorized and it’s…” he lowered his voice into a mumbled and added, “embarrassing.”

Sirius stared at the letter. If Severus didn’t want it… Well, Sirius wouldn’t mind having it. It’d be a nice thing to read whenever he felt poorly about himself. “Can I keep it?” he asked. He smirked. “You write about me very nicely in this.”

“No!” snarled Severus, trying to grab it from him. He dodged the hand and held it high above his head. Severus was not so much smaller he couldn’t wrestle him for it, and Sirius was pretty sure he’d win too because he didn’t think Severus would feel bad about playing dirty at all. However, Severus also was not going to jump in the air to try and take it from him. He certainly saw himself as someone above such desperate behavior.

“Can you promise me not to burn it?” he pleaded, trying to catch his friend’s eyes. “I really think you’ll regret it later.”

Severus thinned his lips into a pale slash. “We shall see,” he replied.

He sighed and brought the letter back down. Handing it over to Severus, he begged, “If you do, can I at least get a chance to read it one more time?”

Taking the letter none-too-gently, Severus shoved it into the back pocket of his trousers and said, “Don’t push your luck, Sirius.”

Sirius knew it was time to back off. “Fine, fine,” he said, putting up his hands.

Severus looked to his bedroom's open doorway and told him, “I have everything.”

He nodded and let Severus finally lead them out of the room. Once in the hall, he asked, “Are we leaving?”

“Not quite,” answered Severus, looking over his shoulder at Sirius.

“Hello?” called a voice from downstairs.

Sirius smiled. Remus had come in. “Up here, Remus!” he shouted.

Footsteps sound on the stairs and, a moment later, Remus appeared on the landing. “Hey, I delivered the note,” he said to Severus. “Your neighbor asked if you’d be away long. I said you were staying the rest of the summer before you go back to school.” his expression turned leery and Remus asked, “That was fine, right?”

Severus dipped his chin, causing his hair to sway around his shoulders. “Yes,” he answered before going to another door and turning the knob.

“What’s this door to?” asked Sirius as his friend pushed it open.

“My parents’ room,” he said as he stepped in, allowing him and Remus to follow him.

Avidly, Sirius looked around the sparse room. It, much like Severus’s bedroom, lacked in little, personal touches. There was a bed large enough for two framed by two small tables. Only one had a porcelain lamp and the shade on it was dented. Next to the room’s window, there was a wardrobe that had seen better days. One of the doors’ knobs was missing.

To the right of the wardrobe, there was a little upholstered burgundy stool that had a pair of men's slippers tossed wantonly around it and rumpled pajamas resting on top. Above the stool was a print of a wavy, long-haired brunet with a beard looking off to the distance. Sirius squinted at the picture. He’d seen it somewhere else, hadn’t he? Where, though?

“I want to see if I can’t find a few things Mum probably hid,” said Severus, interrupting Sirius’s train of thought and reminding him he should probably be offering some kind of help, not just staring at Severus’s dad’s room.

“Like what?” he asked.

He gestured to the bed. “I think she hid some books beneath the mattress and I want to take them with me,” he said.

Sirius drew his wand. “Want help?”

“If you like,” he answered with a shrug.

“ _Leviosa!_ ” commanded Sirius at the mattress with a flick of his wand. It lifted up in the air and came to hover just inches from the ceiling. As he held it there, the three of them approached the bedframe. Like Severus had suspected, there were books on the left side. Sirius frowned at how few there were. 

It seemed Remus was put-out too as he said, “Is that it?” He made a tsking sound as Severus gathered them up in his arms. “She had so few.”

“Dad burned the rest of them,” replied Severus as he held the books near to him, expression defensive.

Sirius lowered the mattress back down with a lot less finesse than he’d levitated it. “Sorry?” he sputtered. Severus’s dad had set _fire_ to his wife’s books?

Expression pinched, Severus admitted, “He didn’t take the news of magic terribly well.”

Remus scrubbed a hand through his hair and studied the books Severus held with an appraising look. “A yearbook, a seventh-year history text, herbology…” he rambled.

Sirius, who had joined Remus in his study, felt his heart stutter when he caught sight of the spine of a text Severus had half-hidden behind the yearbook. “Hey, I’ve heard of that hex collection,” he said, trying and failing to take it from Severus who refused to let it go. “That’s a pretty dark book for somebody to have.”

Severus looked away and shrugged. “I’ve never thought much of it,” he said (lied). “I imagine Mum was studying it in case she might need a hex or two when she decided to run off.”

Sirius and Remus exchanged frowns. “When did she leave her family?” inquired Remus, tone a little hesitant.

Severus, who’d juggled the books to one arm and was now shrinking them down to put in his pockets like his other things, answered, “Right after graduation. She escaped into Muggle London when she deboarded the Express.”

He felt his eyebrows shoot high on his forehead. “Your grandparents were that bad, huh?” said Sirius. That story sounded a lot like the story Andromeda told him about her own escape when he saw her shortly after running away to the Potters’ last year. Except she’d gone off to Ted Tonk’s parents’ home, not London’s streets.

Severus, who’d finished pocketing his mother’s books, shrugged his shoulders again. “Mum said Grandfather was a very rigid man with expectations that would be met whether she wanted to meet them or not,” he said.

He nodded his understanding. Sirius didn't need clarification on what the expectations were. He was well aware of the things parents of his and Severus’s mother’s standing expected from their children. “I guess she was lucky she never had to use any of those,” he said.

Severus huffed. “Yes,” he agreed, though he did not seem to truly. He turned away from him and Remus and took out his wand.

“What are you doing now?” questioned Remus, reaching up to put a hand on Severus’s shoulder only to pull back at the last second. Sirius thought that was for the best, Severus was pretty wound up at the moment and a hand, even a comforting one, probably wouldn’t end well. Especially from Remus.

Severus didn’t answer, instead, he waved his wand and demanded, “ _Accio_ Mum and Dad’s wedding photo!”

Sirius and Remus’s eyes shot to the wardrobe where a faint rattling could be heard. “There’s a noise behind the wardrobe,” said Remus, pointing at it.

“Sirius?” prompted Severus, looking at him.

He nodded and waved his wand. “ _Leviosa!_ ” he commanded, making it first float up, then closer to them. Severus and Remus went over, stepping behind it. 

“There’s a picture frame sellotaped to the back of this,” said Remus, poking his head around the wardrobe to look at Sirius with wide eyes.

“Mum probably thought Dad would never find it back there,” said Severus, voice slightly muffled by the bulk of the wardrobe. A moment later, there was the sound of ripping and then the two stepped back out from behind the wardrobe. Sirius put it back where he found it with a slight thud.

“She was right, huh?” he asked as he approached the two.

“Yes,” said Severus, holding the picture close to his chest.

Sirius couldn’t help but scratch his head. He didn’t know why this picture was important to Severus. Sure, it had his mum, who he loved, but his dad was in it too. Severus did _not_ love him as far as he could tell. “What do you want that for?” he asked his friend.

His friend was quiet for a beat. Then, he explained, “It’s the one photo I have ever seen where my parents are happy.” 

“Ah,” said Remus on both of their behalves.

Sirius, who was now fatally curious, tried to wedge a finger between the frame and Severus to make him lower it so they could see the picture. When that didn’t work, he complained, “Let us see!”

Severus looked at him and then at Remus. He exhaled in what could only be described as resignation. “Fine,” he replied and revealed the picture to them.

Sirius felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Severus’s mother looked like she was their age. How quickly after running away from home had she met and married Severus’s dad? The man didn’t really look all that much older than his barely of age wife at least. “Severus… How old are they?” he asked.

Severus, whose thumb was absently running up and down the frame’s edge, gave a small hum. “Hm, eighteen and twenty-two or three?” he answered. “I don’t actually recall when my dad’s birthday is.”

Remus made a noise of surprise. “They married _that_ young?” he asked, voicing Sirius’s own shock. He’d been kind of hoping Severus’s parents just the type of people who retained a youthful look longer than most.

Severus, who’d noted Remus’s disapproval, scowled at him. “It was not so strange then,” he said. Then, after pursing his lips, countered, “It isn’t _now_.”

Sirius had to admit Severus sort of had a point. Except… “Maybe it’s not, but my parents were almost a whole decade older than both of them when they wed,” said Sirius. “Your parents too, right, Remus?”

His friend nodded. “Dad was thirty-two and Mum almost twenty-six.” Remus tapped his chin. “James’s parents married pretty young I think. But they also didn’t have him until they were nearly fifty…”

Sirius crossed his arms, feeling a little more secure in his unease at the ages of Severus’s parents. None of his other friends had been born to barely of age people. Not even Peter he was pretty sure. He voiced this opinion, “I don’t remember Peter’s parents’ situation. But I’m pretty sure he celebrated his dad’s fiftieth last year, didn’t he?”

“That’s right,” agreed Remus. “His mother isn’t too much younger. I think five or six years?”

Severus glowered at them, fingers clutching the frame a little tighter. “They may have waited another year, but once Dad proposed, they stopped being careful,” he explained. “When they realized Mum was pregnant, Dad insisted they marry and quickly.” His eyes flickered to the print of the man by the wardrobe. “He still talked from time to time to his parents and he didn’t want to shame them with a baby born out of wedlock.”

Sirius gasped and looked at the photo again with fresh eyes. “Your mum is pregnant in this photo!” he exclaimed, studying her closely. Except there was little to take in because she held a bouquet of anemones that obscured her stomach.

Severus hunched his shoulders and hid the photo once more against his chest. “Only a few months,” he mumbled.

“Was she eighteen when she had you too?” asked Remus, looking a little pale.

Severus shook his head, standing a little straighter. “Nineteen,” he answered.

“Merlin!” he exclaimed. Marriage at eighteen made Sirius feel a little uneasy, but a baby at nineteen sounded horrifying.

Severus bared his teeth at them and snapped, “Plenty of people have children at nineteen!”

Technically, that was true. Plenty of people _did_. However, Sirius knew people that age. _He_ wasn’t far from being that age. “Okay, but do you realize we _know_ people who are nineteen, Severus?” he asked, putting his hands on his friend’s shoulders and trying to get him to look Sirius in the eye. Instead, Severus jerked back from his touch and turned half away from him and Remus. He didn’t let it deter him. Sirius shook his head and muttered, “Merlin, I know people in their twenties! A lot of them couldn’t keep a puffskein alive.”

Severus gave him a thin, almost mean smile. “Keep it wrapped and you won’t have to worry,” he said.

Sirius screwed his face up at his friend. “Ew.”

Remus, who realized they were probably treading on very thin ice with Severus, sighed loudly, drawing both of their gazes. Hands on his hips, he scanned the room and asked, “Severus, is there anything else you want from in here?”

He dipped his chin. “My mother’s ring,” he answered. “Dad kept it,” he explained as he shrank and pocketed his parents’ wedding photo. Then, with another swish of his wand, he called, “ _Accio_ Mum’s ring!”

From beneath the table with the lamp flew up a ring right into Severus’s waiting palm. “Whoah!” exclaimed Sirius, leaning in to inspect the ring.

His own mother’s wedding band was not a particularly fancy one, but it was rich in history. It had belonged to his father’s grandmother and it had started as a delicate gold band with a tastefully-sized oval emerald. For his mother, Sirius’s father had the emerald encircled by little diamonds to give it its own unique look before he proposed to her. Sirius had never seen his mother not wear it and, while it could be hard to read feelings from her that weren’t anger or disappointment, he knew she felt pride when she looked at it.

The ring was one of a few things Sirius’s father had gotten very right in his marriage.

In contrast to his mother’s wedding band, the ring Severus’s mother once wore was plain. The band was white-gold with a small, solitaire round diamond. Sirius wondered if she’d been proud when it was placed on her finger. Possibly, she’d seemed a very happy bride in her photo beside her bridegroom. Yet he also couldn’t help but speculate she may have been disappointed. After growing up around women who waved much more elaborate and beautiful rings around, this one had to seem quite lacking. 

Sirius didn’t voice the thought, however. It would only serve to make Severus cross with him. His friend was inspecting the ring with a gentle finger and the look in his eyes told Sirius he thought the ring was far more beautiful than it actually was. With greater care than he had treated everything else, he placed it on his pinky finger, turning the diamond down to hide in his palm.

“Where’d that come from?” asked Sirius when his mate was done. He looked at the table it’d flown from. Mr. Snape hadn’t kept that out in the open on top of the table, had he? That just seemed foolish. However, the table’s drawer wasn’t ajar. So it couldn’t have come from there.

Severus pointed down near the floor. “Beneath the bedside table.”

“He keeps things down there?” asked Remus, stooping slightly to look below it.

Severus nodded. “Thieve would be less likely to look beneath it than they would inside of it.”

“…I can’t disagree with that,” said Remus as he stood back up.

“If anything can be said about Dad, he _does_ have a brain,” continued Severus, expression pained. He sighed. “It is why Mum fancied him at all.” He then swiftly turned toward the bedroom door and declared, “We can leave now.”

“You don’t need to get together any other pictures or mementos?” asked Sirius, following after Severus, Remus on his heels.

Severus didn’t pause in his stride, instead, walking over to the stairs and going down them two at a time. “The wedding photo was the one I was uncertain of its location until today and taking the ring any earlier would have been risky,” he explained to Sirius and Remus as they headed for the front door. “Everything else I want is in my trunk already.”

“Okay,” replied Sirius. He believed Severus mostly. He had spent almost a whole week at Spinner’s End before their weekend at the Lupins’.

Once outside, instead of ducking into the nearest alley to travel back to the Lupins’, Severus started to walk down the street. “Sirius,” said Remus, asking him, in a way, what was happening.

Sirius wasn’t sure either. He was about to tell his mate so, however, Severus yelled over his shoulder, “Come, let’s go tell Lily the news before we return to your home, Remus.”

Remus looked at him and Sirius shrugged. If Severus wanted to, who were they to say no? Plus, it’d be interesting to see how Lily’s house and street compared to Severus’s. Remus nodded then and hurried to catch up to Severus before he fell in step. Sirius decided to be a little more leisurely about doing the same and took in what would probably be his last look ever at Spinner’s End, the place Severus grew up on.

“ _Our_ home, Severus,” he heard Remus say to their mate. “You live there now.”

There was a hesitation on Severus’s part, but, quieter than Remus, he repeated, “Our home.”

Sirius grinned and took a couple of wide steps to come up next to Severus. He put an arm around his friend’s neck, drawing his gaze to him. He winked at Severus, “It’s got a nice ring, doesn’t it?” he teased.

For a moment, the other frowned. However, when he turned his eyes back to the street, he mumbled just loud enough for Sirius’s ear to catch:

“Yes.”

-O-

Sirius looked at Remus when they stopped in front of the house that must be Lily’s. It had taken them less than ten minutes to reach it. Remus appeared as surprised as he felt. He hadn’t ever realized their homes were _this_ close to one another.

Thankfully, in spite of how near to one another they were, the street Lily lived on was a great improvement from the street Severus grew up on. It seemed to Sirius the families who lived here cared for their homes better. The residents fought against weather and time's efforts to bleach their shutters and doors of color and didn't let the grime of Cokeworth turn the bricks of their homes brown. Healthy, well-tended flowers and other greenery sat in flowerpots in front of homes and in boxes attached to windows. Here, on Lily's street, there wasn’t odd rubbish scattered on the paths in front of the rows of homes or bottles in the gutters.

Now that it was later in the morning, there were also a few gangs of kids roving up and down Lily’s street on shiny bicycles and scooters too. He’d also nodded at a smartly-dressed mother with a pram once as they turned the corner onto the street.

While he absorbed the differences of Lily's street to Severus's, his mate didn’t so much as hesitate to jog up the couple of steps to Lily’s navy blue door. Severus lifted the little metal knocker on the front and hit it against the wood a couple of times. The three of them hardly had to wait a minute before the door swung open to reveal a blonde teenager.

Her admittedly pretty lips puckered into an ugly, sour frown when her eyes landed on Severus. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, crossing her skinny arms over her small chest.

Sirius couldn’t see Severus’s face, but his friend stiffened as he replied, tone sharp, “To speak a moment with Lily.”

The teenager, who Sirius believed was the sister Lily sometimes talked about, huffed and leaned against the frame of the door. “You saw her Saturday, didn’t you?” she demanded, thin brows pulled down in a harsh, aggressive angle.

Severus made a noise of annoyance before he stuck his head over the blonde’s shoulder and called into the home, “Lily!”

“Hey!” yelped Lily’s sister, stumbling back a step, eyes wide. Affronted that Severus would dare to invade her personal space. 

A moment later, another woman appeared. Lily and Petunia’s mother, he bet. She looked to be about the same age as Remus’s mother to Sirius. She had blue eyes like her daughter, but in a paler hue and her hair was a light brown that made Sirius curious. If not her, where had Lily’s red hair come from? Petunia’s blonde? “Who’s that, Petunia?” she asked her daughter, a dish towel between her hands.

Petunia sneered at all of them as she turned away to leave. “Just the Snape boy and some cretins,” she told her mother.

Mrs. Evans gave her retreating daughter a glare but did not rebuke her in favor of filling up the doorway. She eyed first Severus, then he and Remus. “Good morning,” she said to them, one eyebrow arched. Sirius had to smother a smile. He’d seen Lily use that look on James more than once over the years.

“Hello, Mrs. Evans,” said Severus, tone far milder than it had been with Lily’s sister. “Lily is home, isn’t she?” he asked.

The woman nodded. “Yes, taking a bath, but I’ll get her,” she answered. She stepped away from the doorway. “Why don’t you and…” she paused and squinted at Sirius and Remus. “I know you two, don’t I?”

Remus answered on their behalf. “We’re James’s mates,” he said. Gesturing at himself and then Sirius, he told Mrs. Evans, “Remus and Sirius.”

The woman smiled for the first time since they’d met her. Her teeth were a little misaligned, but Sirius found it a nice, pretty smile all the same. “Ah, yes, now I remember!” she said. Her eyes returned to Severus. “You are friends with them too, Severus?”

He nodded at the woman. “Yes.”

She sighed. “Oh, that’s nice,” she replied, looking at him and Remus with fresh, appraising eyes. “We wondered when you stopped coming around. Lily wouldn’t say much other than you were running in different crowds now.”

Severus shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. “I was,” he said, “for a bit, anyway, Sirius…” he trailed off and looked over at him. “He pulled me back in.”

“How lovely,” said Mrs. Evans, her smile widening further. She shifted the dish towel to one hand and waved at them. “Now, why don’t you come in?” she suggested. As Severus stepped inside and Remus and he hurried to follow his lead, Mrs. Evans laughed. “It wouldn’t be right to make you three wait outside,” she commented. “The neighbors may get nervous seeing three strange boys loitering on our step.”

Walking up a staircase to the left of the door, she said over her shoulder, “Take a seat in the kitchen please.” As Severus took them around the staircase and into what had to be the kitchen, Mrs. Evans’s voice floated down to them. “You remember where I keep the Jaffa Cakes tucked in there, don’t you? You and Lily pillaged them enough over the years! I also have milk and juice in the fridge if you’re thirsty.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Evans,” Severus not quite shouted as he went over to one of the kitchen’s white-painted cupboards and opened it. From it, he brought out a blue box that read “Jaffa Cakes” in orange writing. “I’m sure Lily will be just a moment when she tells her,” Severus said to them as he opened up the box and pulled out a circular dessert. 

“Of course,” said Remus as he went and took a chair at the table with metal chairs that had blue cushions to match the blue tabletop. 

“Is she always so chatty?” asked Sirius as he joined Remus and followed Severus moving around the room with his eyes. He took a green plate from another cupboard and put the dessert on it. When done, he looked up at them and their waiting expressions and shrugged.

“I suppose,” he answered. “Jaffa Cake?”

Sirius wasn’t sure. He couldn’t tell what they were from the box or dessert itself. “What are they exactly?” he asked.

Severus put three more on the plate. “Sponge cake with chocolate and orange jam filling,” he answered as he brought it over to the table. “You should like it, I think?” he said, looking at Remus.

Remus nodded. Though, that was pretty easy to figure out. Chocolate always appealed to him. “Yes, I will have one, thanks,” he said, taking a cake and biting into it.

“Me too!” said Sirius, not wanting to be left out as his mates ate their cakes. After taking a bite, he was actually surprised to find it was a pretty good flavor. “These aren’t half-bad,” he remarked, staring at the inside of the Jaffa Cake.

Severus snorted before finishing off his cake. After, he turned his head to look out the window positioned over the kitchen’s sink. “When we were little, Lily and I would have one every time we came to her house. Usually, during the summers, it meant we came by the Evans at least three times a week,” he told them, eyes lost to the memory and tone almost warm.

“I don’t think I ever realized how close you two were,” remarked Remus, voicing their earlier surprise and drawing Severus back to the present. “Lily has said you’d known each other before Hogwarts, and that you even told her she was a witch, but I never realized until today how close you two actually lived to each other.” He chuckled. “And just now that you honestly probably went years seeing each other daily.” He smiled at Severus. “It’s actually surprising you two stopped being mates.”

The calm expression Severus wore turned dark. “It wasn’t my choice,” he growled.

Sirius winced and Remus paled. “Um,” he floundered. However, before he had to find something to say, Lily stepped into the kitchen. Her hair was still dripping wet and the collar of the dress she wore was soaked. 

“Severus?” she said, looking first at him. “Remus? Sirius?” she stepped further into the kitchen. After a moment, she sat down in the remaining chair. “What are you three doing here?” she asked as she reached for the Jaffa Cake still on the plate.

“Oh thank Merlin, Lily,” said Sirius, letting go of the breath he’d been holding.

Around the cake she was biting into, Lily asked, muffled, “What?”

“Nevermind him,” said Severus, catching the girl’s eye. “I thought you may like to know I’m going to spend the rest of hols with Remus’s family,” he told her. As Lily stared at him, Jaffa Cake still resting in her mouth uneaten, Severus asked in a murmur, “That is okay, isn’t it?”

Lily quickly swallowed the cake, hardly chewing it before she did. “Duh!” she exclaimed, giving Severus a blinding grin. Standing up, she reached over the table and hugged Severus’s head. “This is splendid news!” she declared. She then let him go and sat back down. Staring at the dessert in her hand, she pouted. “You already broke into the cakes,” she complained. “What are we to celebrate with now, Sev?”

Severus, whose face was a little more pink than usual, gave her a small, tentative smile. “There is an ice cream parlor in the town near Remus’s,” he said. “Perhaps this weekend…?”

Lily bobbed her head. “Yes, you, me, and Remus will get some ice cream,” she declared with a look of satisfaction.

Sirius made a face. “What about me?” he grumbled.

Lily rolled her eyes at him as if he were thick. Flicking a wet lock of hair over her shoulder, she said, “I’m sure if you and James won’t be up to something by then Joan would appreciate going on a date with you.”

He blinked. “Oh,” he said. Lily thought it was a good idea that he ask her on a date for next Saturday or Sunday? They _just_ kissed Saturday. Or was it Friday? He wasn’t actually too sure what time it was when they talked outside the tent. “You think she’ll agree to an actual date that soon?” he questioned. 

Lily raised an eyebrow. “She did kiss you, didn’t she?”

“Joan kissed you!” exclaimed Remus, startling in his chair so badly he nearly fell out of it.

As Severus and Lily snickered, Sirius felt his face grow hot. “It was just little kisses!” he argued. Sulkily, he looked to the table and began to trace the pattern in the blue, smooth surface. “I was going to mention it soon-ish,” he grumbled.

Remus was quiet for a beat. “You’re actually being bashful about this,” he said finally. When Sirius peaked up, he saw his friend was smirking, eyes bright with laughter. “You _really_ fancy her, don’t you?”

“Shut up, Remus!” he snapped before reaching across the table to try and mess up his hair. Remus dodged and the chair he was sitting in toppled to the floor.

“No horsing around in my kitchen, please,” proclaimed Mrs. Evans as she entered the kitchen. Sirius, sheepish sat back down in his seat and offered an apologetic smile to the woman. As for Remus, he hurriedly picked up the chair and dusted off imaginary dirt with his hand. The woman’s critical expression softened slightly and she went over to the oven, which she opened and placed a ceramic dish from the counter beside it in.

“Of course, Mrs. Evans. My apologies,” said Severus for all of them as she stood back up and closed the oven door. Severus looked to the kitchen’s doorway. “I told Lily my news, we can leave?” he suggested.

The woman gave an uncaring shrug. “If you like,” she said. Then she looked at Lily, who had the back of her head to them, and sighed. Wearing a smile that didn’t entirely meet her eyes, she said, “However, you are welcome to stay for lunch. I’m baking a steak and kidney pie that should be done in an hour.”

Severus looked at them. It was pretty obvious he didn’t know what to say. Obviously, Mrs. Evans wasn’t too happy with them at this moment, but they’d apologized and, for Lily, she seemed happy to extend the offer. Remus made the decision for them. “I’ll call Mum,” he said. Giving the woman a smile, he asked, “Mrs. Evans, do you have a phone I could use?”

She nodded and pointed out of the kitchen. “Yes, just there on the wall in the hall.”

“Thanks,” said Remus, leaving the room to call his Mum.

Mrs. Evans’s attention turned back to Severus. She appraised him with her eyes a moment before going to the refrigerator. From it, she pulled out a bottle of milk. She then brought down short yellow-colored glasses from a cupboard to the left of it and came to set them on the table.

Eyes on the milk as it filled the glass, she inquired, “What news did you have for Lily, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Severus shook his head and accepted the glass pushed at him. “I’ll be staying with Remus for the rest of the summer,” he told the woman.

Mrs. Evans didn’t pause in pouring the milk. When she finished, she stood up with her now half-empty pint in one hand and tilted her head at Severus. “Oh?” she said. Her tone changed as she asked, “What did your father have to say about that? He’s been alone since your mother passed, hasn’t he?”

Severus took a drink from his cup. When he put it back down on the table, he said, “Dad didn’t have much to say.” He lifted his head a little higher and reminded Mrs. Evans, “I’m of age, he can’t tell me what to do anymore.”

The woman sighed and went to put the milk back in the refrigerator. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed. “Did you make sure to leave him with the address of where you’ll be?”

Severus nodded his head when Mrs. Evans looked at him. “He has it and I also gave it to Mrs. Hatman across the road.”

“Good,” said the woman, appeased. A hand flitted to her cheek and she turned her gaze to the kitchen’s window. “I’d hate for something to happen and you not to hear about it for days after.”

Severus made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh and muttered, “You have a point. Dad would be quite cross if it were anyone but me dealing with his business.”

Mrs. Evans’s eyes snapped to Sirius’s friend. “Severus, I know it was just to your mother you used to like us passing along letters to, but do you want us to do the same for your father now?” she asked. Mrs. Evans pursed her lips, chin wrinkling in the process. When she opened her mouth again, she inquired, “Or had you found another way to send him mail since her passing?”

He shook his head at Mrs. Evans. “I’ve just not sent much mail at all.” He turned a glare on his half-empty glass of milk. “If you or Mr. Evans see him around town…” he sighed and his shoulders fell. “You can tell him I’m well.”

Mrs. Evans’s nostrils flared and she made an aggravated sound. “Just well?” she complained as she began to pace in front of her counters. The woman’s face turned bitter. “All these years later and magic is still too much for him?”

Severus slunk in his seat. “I know,” he mumbled. “It’s stupid.”

The bitterness faded and sympathy and hurt took its place. “I wish I could understand,” she said, wringing her hands. Tears in the corners of her eyes, Mrs. Evans cried, “Mr. Evans’s upbringing was rather devout as well. His uncle was even a reverend! But never for a moment did he look at Lily’s magic as anything but a gift.”

Lily, who’d gotten up during her mother’s rant, enveloped the woman in a hug. Resting her chin on her mother’s shoulder, she squeezed her and whispered, “I know, and I’m very grateful, Mum.”

“It’s just a shame!” whimpered Mrs. Evans, wiping away the tears on her lashes.

“Mum, it’s okay,” soothed Lily, letting her mother go and smiling at her. “Severus is going to stay with Remus, whose family _does_ appreciate magic.” Her eyes flickered to Severus, part warning, part pleading. “He’s going to be happy there,” she said and with a forced giggle, she continued, “I reckon Mr. Snape will be happy not worrying every day he’s at work whether he’ll return to a home blown up with a potion or spell.”

Mrs. Evans nodded. Looking at the two of them still at the table, she exhaled and smoothed her hair with shaking hands. “You’re right,” she told Lily. Then, to them, she apologized. “I’m sorry,” she said. Then, again to Lily, she remarked, “I think I’ll go finish ironing your dad’s shirts. Let me know when the timer for the pie goes off, won’t you?”

“Yes, Mum,” agreed Lily, stepping back and letting her mother leave the kitchen. As she did, Remus stepped inside, eyeing them all with a questioning look.

“Is your Mum okay?” he asked once they no longer heard her climbing Lily’s creaky stairs.

Lily breathed deeply. “Yes, we were just talking and hit a nerve,” she replied. “Mum’s very family-oriented and talking about Sev’s dad got her thinking.”

“About your sister?” prompted Severus, watching Lily as she sat back down and picked up her glass.

Fingers wrapping around the cool glass, Lily nodded her head. “It’s hard not to think of her,” she admitted. Lily bit her lip. “We _all_ worry about ‘Tuney. Her boyfriend only ever talks about himself and he’s _not_ interesting.” Frowning down at her milk, she complained, “She’s limiting herself.”

Severus leaned back in his chair. “I can see why she fancies him,” he murmured. A not kind smirk spread across his face. “If she can’t be the most interesting one in the room, why not the most boring?”

Sirius winced at the harsh words and Remus choked on the sip of milk he was taking. As for Lily, she just grumbled, “Ugh, Sev.”

“I’m not wrong, am I?” he demanded, crossing his arms and glaring back at the girl.

Remus, who’d stopped coughing, had no problem telling Severus, “You’re kind of being an ass, though.”

Severus bared his teeth and Lily scoffed at him. “Oh, don’t glare at Remus,” she chided Sirius’s friend. “He’s right.”

Sirius, who could see Severus was now feeling ganged up on (even if he really did kind of deserve it. Yeah, Petunia hadn’t seemed like a particularly nice person during his short encounter with her, but she was still _family_ to Lily) got into the thick of it. “Ah, it’s okay!” he assured Severus. “Remus always is telling me off.”

Remus shot him a wry smile. “For doing almost the same things, actually,” he said, which made Sirius pout even though he was right.

“Hmph,” muttered Severus.

Sirius, who didn’t like the awkward air, slapped his hands on the table and asked, “So since we’re staying for lunch, what should we do while we wait?”

Lily furrowed her brows and looked over at her kitchen’s cupboards and drawers. “We could play some Muggle card games?” she suggested. “My family has a couple of decks.”

“Sure,” agreed Remus while Sirius nodded, eager. He was curious to see how closely Muggle card games resembled Magical games.

-o-O-o-

As soon as they walked into sight of the Lupins’ home after their lunch with Mrs. Evans and Lily, (Petunia had refused to eat with them and Mr. Evans was at work) Hope had stuck her head out the front door and yelled out:

“James fire called a little bit ago. He was wanting to know when you plan to come home, Sirius. I said you’d be back soon. It seems Euphemia is trying to decide on dinner.” Hope smirked at him. “I told him you just had lunch with Lily. He looked rather put-out you hadn’t invited him along on your trip!”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Ah, he saw her Saturday,” he said. He grinned. “I reckon he’ll also see her again before Wednesday too!”

Hope laughed. “I’m sure,” she agreed. The woman then looked at Remus and Severus and told them, “I’m thinking spaghetti and bolognese for dinner? It’s easy and you can reheat the leftovers tomorrow while I’m leading my book club in town.”

Remus looked at Severus, who nodded. “That’s fine, Mum,” said Remus on his and Severus’s behalf.

She disappeared back inside then. Just the three of them once more, they stared at each other for a beat. After it, Remus said, “I’m going to clean my room.” He nodded at Sirius. “I’ll see you Thursday,” he said. He smiled at Severus and told him, “If you need help arranging stuff in your room later, just knock on my door. I won’t mind helping.”

“Thank you,” muttered Severus.

Remus’s smile brightened at the gratitude. With one last wave at Sirius, he walked into his family’s home, leaving Severus and Sirius alone outside. 

For a bit, he and Severus just sort of looked at the front door together. It seemed neither of them really knew how to conclude this bridge weekend. Sirius wasn’t sure what there was to say. Things had gone well. Better than well, even. Severus was going to spend the rest of the summer here at the Lupins’. Sirius was going to see him every Thursday at least. While he was still struggling to find a way to say goodbye that didn’t feel flippant or too soppy, Severus cleared his throat.

He looked at his friend’s face. Severus was still staring ahead at the door, but his profile was a little pink and the usual faint frown Severus wore was missing. “I don’t know how I will ever make things even between us,” he said.

Sirius crossed his arms and sighed. “Don’t talk like that,” he chided, making the absent frown return to Severus’s countenance. “We’re mates, okay? They help each other.” Reaching out, he grabbed Severus by the shoulder. Severus, thankfully, did not buck at his touch and allowed Sirius to guide him to squarely face Sirius. Staring into watching black eyes, Sirius squeezed the bony shoulder under his fingers. “I’ve done a lot of helping this year,” he said with a smile. “But that’s not always going to be true. Someday I’ll need the help and I know you’ll be there to offer it.”

Severus’s eyes fluttered wide for a fraction of a second before returning to their usual, cool look. “Yes,” he agreed. “You’re right.” He put out his hand. “I’ll help you whenever you need me to.”

He laughed at Severus’s behavior. He was still trying to make this some sort of deal. It was kind of frustrating, but eventually, Severus would get it, he thought. The bloke was too clever not to. Even so, Sirius took his mate’s hand. However, instead of shaking it like Severus probably expected, he used it to pull him closer. With his other arm, he wrapped Severus up in an embrace.

Severus became petrified-still. Sirius didn’t let go. Instead, into Severus’s ear, he breathed, “I get you aren’t used to this stuff, friends, help, care. It was all pretty new to me too, not that long ago. You’ll understand it one day, though.” When he pulled back, he smiled at his blank-faced friend. “See you Thursday, okay?”

His expression changed into something more normal and there was a note quite smirk playing at the ends of his mouth. “Maybe we can give that pogo stick a try.”

Sirius grinned back at his mate. It was always a good sign when Severus agreed to do things he hadn’t been excited about before. It meant Sirius had done or said something right. “Yeah,” he agreed. “That will be fun,” he said. He waved at Severus as he let the feeling of disapparation start in the pit of his stomach. “Enjoy having the Lupins’ to yourself for the next couple of days!”

Severus nodded and lifted a hand. “Goodbye, Sirius.”

“Bye!” he yelled back before Severus and the Lupin home disappeared altogether. A moment later, when he landed in front of the Potter’s Manor, Sirius laughed. James had already spotted him and was waving at him from one of the open windows on the first floor.

“Finally!” he yelled down at him. “Did you do it, mate?"

Sirius put his hands on his hips and called back, “He's staying!"

James let out a whoop of victory. "Well done, Sirius!" he shouted. "Come on, race me to the kitchen! We can sneak pieces of the crumble Mum has cooling for pudding to celebrate."

"You're on!" Sirius hollered back as he sprinted for the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lily and James made reappearances for the end of this story :) How did you enjoy what's technically the last chapter?
> 
> However, keeping to the typical schedule, in two weeks there will be an epilogue. After that, I will post an outtake too.
> 
> Thank you for reading and please leave your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo!


	9. Epilogue

Into Severus’s room drifted Lyall’s voice, saying, “Severus, lad, wake up. There’s breakfast.”

He turned beneath the quilt Remus’s grandmother had stitched for Hope and Lyall when they were newlyweds and grumbled, “Hmph.”

Lyall sighed at his refusal. There was a brief moment of shuffling feet before he replied, “Fine.” Severus could almost imagine Lyall pointing at him with a single, slightly crooked finger (he’d broken it playing quidditch during his schooldays) as he proclaimed, “You’ve got twenty minutes before you need to start getting ready to leave.”

He nodded even though the quilt and his pillow hid the movement of his head. “Thank you, Lyall,” he called out in a tired voice. He shouldn’t have stayed awake until three in the morning altering his and Remus’s potions textbooks, no matter how poor some of the directions in it were.

The wizard chuckled. “You’re welcome,” he said before Severus heard the sound of his bedroom closing shut. Soon after, the world faded away again and all Severus knew was the pleasant darkness of sleep.

-O-

“Severus?” called Remus from next to his bed. 

He cracked an eye open and looked at the little Muggle alarm clock he’d brought from his life on Spinner’s End and kept on his room’s windowsill. He scowled when he saw he had been woken before the time he must rise to be ready to leave for the station. Lifting his head, he looked over his shoulder at a mostly dressed Remus and snapped, “Your Dad said I had twenty minutes.”

Remus frowned but did not look the least bit apologetic. “That was fifteen ago,” he said.

He made a noise of aggravation and ran a hand through his tangled hair. “Why are you bothering me then?” he demanded.

The other boy’s eyes started to rove around his bedroom. “I wanted to know if I left my potions textbook in here?” he replied. “I can’t find it with the rest of mine.”

Severus gestured over at his slant top desk. “Desk, probably,” he answered. “That’s where you left your other books when we were revising our essays yesterday afternoon.”

Remus walked over and inspected the pile of books he had resting atop it. A moment later, he pulled one from the pile. He hugged it to his chest and grinned. “Ah! Yes, thank you,” he said before walking back to Severus’s door.

As he was about to leave, Severus sat up in his bed. No reason to try and go back to sleep now, not when he’d need to be up again in a few minutes. Plus he was actually just a little bit peckish for once. “Is there still breakfast downstairs?” he asked Remus. 

The boy paused in closing his bedroom door and tilted his head in thought. “Maybe,” he answered, not sounding overly confident. He shrugged. “Either way, there’s time for you to make a piece of toast if you really want something.”

“Okay,” replied Severus as he got out of his bed and walked over to his desk, and began to rustle in the drawer beneath the tabletop for an outfit from the summer clothes he would be leaving behind at the Lupins’.

Remus continued to hover in his doorway. “I’d hurry,” he advised. “You still need to wash up and finish packing your books.”

Severus rolled his eyes. Thankfully, since he had his back to Remus, he wouldn’t have to worry about offending the other. “I know,” he said, not hiding all of his annoyance at the other’s mother henning from his tone.

Remus exhaled. “Meet you downstairs,” he concluded before shutting Severus’s door with a firm hand. He didn’t let it bother him. Remus would be the furthest thing from cross at Severus’s rejection of his concern when he saw how much he’d improved his potions text.

-o-O-o-

Standing on the platform among other students, new and old, their families and friends, Severus couldn’t help but feel disbelief. Was it truly time for them to go back to Hogwarts? Summer felt as if it had just begun yesterday. A look at the faces of Hope and Lyall told Severus they felt quite similar to him. Severus thought he finally understood his housemates’ bemoaning about holidays being too short.

There was a glossy sheen to Hope’s eyes as she said, “Okay, we’ll let you boys go now.” She leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to Remus’s cheek. Her eyes found his next and he gave a tiny inclination of his chin, consenting for her to give him the same treatment. She placed a quick peck on his cheek. “Remember, write soon!” she told them as she leaned against her husband and let him wrap an arm around her shoulders.

Remus, always a kind son, promised on both of their behalves, “We will, Mum.”

Hope waved a finger at him. “Also, we expect you home right along with Remus for Christmas, Severus!” she ordered, face stern. However, Severus knew it was all in jest. Her tone was light and there was a sparkle in her eye that told him she was being silly to keep from crying. She wanted him back, but she was not actually _demanding_ him to return.

He bit back a smirk. “Yes, Hope,” he replied with faux-exasperation.

Hope looked up at her husband. “Lyall, give the boys something,” she insisted, one hand coming to tug on the tie he wore. “It’s their last year and they deserve to buy a treat or two during their ride.”

The wizard’s eyes turned to his wife, an indulgent smile crossing his face. “Of course, love,” he agreed, reaching to the pocket of his robe for his wallet.

Severus’s heart stuttered. He didn’t need money. He still had a few coins from helping the Lupins’ farmer neighbor clean up his attic. They weren’t magical, but the trolley lady took Muggle-money too. “Lyall—” he began only for the man to shoot him a stern look.

“I don’t want to hear it, Severus,” he said as he reached into his battered leather wallet and pulled a handful of coins out for him and Remus. “A couple of galleons and sickles is something we are more than happy to gift you.”

He sighed and put his hand out like Remus next to him. “Fine,” he grumbled.

Remus glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, a cheeky smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “You’re getting much better at being gracious,” he teased.

“Hmph,” grumbled Severus as he pocketed his gift.

Remus’s gaze settled on his dad and he grinned fully at him.“Thanks, Dad.”

“Yes, thank you,” echoed Severus, realizing he was being ungrateful in his behavior.

Lyall nodded. “Have a nice trip, boys,” he said before he began to steer Hope away from them and toward the platform’s exit.

“Bye!” Remus called after his parents, waving at them. They waved back too for a moment before disappearing in the crowd and leaving Severus, Remus, and their trunks alone. 

Remus looked at him then. Severus raised an eyebrow. “Should we see if Sirius and Potter are on the train?” he asked.

The other boy appeared ready to agree, but then his eyes locked on something — someone — in the distance. “I think that’s Sirius,” he murmured and Severus turned his head to search for their mate. Instead of Sirius down at the other end of the platform, he spotted the more reedy form of his brother, Regulus. “Sirius!” shouted Remus, waving at his fellow Slytherin.

Severus grabbed Remus’s sleeve and yanked his arm down. “No, that’s Regulus!” he snapped.

Remus scowled. “No, it’s no—” he stopped his objection when Black turned to look in their direction. His expression was perturbed. “Oh, you’re right,” said the other boy. He winced. “He’s glaring at us.”

Severus scoffed. Black was not looking at both of them. He was glaring at Severus. He’d done little to please his fellow Slytherins as of late. Black especially was disappointed to see him spending so much time in the company of his disowned brother. Severus was quite certain if it weren’t for the fact he was the best potions tutor in Slytherin, Black would have stopped talking to him the moment he started spending most of his free time with Sirius.

“I assure you it’s just me,” he murmured as he stuck his middle finger up at Black, letting him know he did not appreciate or care for the dirty look he was sending him.

“That’s a bit crass, isn’t it?” asked Remus, frowning at him.

Severus huffed. “If he’s going to look at me like mud, he deserves it,” he grumbled. He tugged on Remus’s sleeve, which was still in his other hand. “Now, come on,” he urged before letting the boy go. Grabbing his trunk, he led them onto the Express. As they wandered up and down the tiny corridors of the passenger cars, peering into windows of compartments, they eventually bumped right into Pettigrew.

“Peter!” exclaimed Remus, leaning in to share a side-embrace with his friend. 

The smaller boy returned the affection. “Hello,” he said. Eyes bright, he explained to them, “I already ran into James and Sirius. I offered to stand around waiting for you two.” Letting go of Remus, he waved for them to follow him further up the car’s corridor. “Let’s go.”

“Is it just them in the compartment or is Joan and Lily there too?” asked Severus as they passed a lost-looking first-year. 

Pettigrew glanced over his shoulder. “Lily was with James and Sirius when I found them and I sent Joan in their direction a bit ago,” he answered. “We should still have some time to catch up before Remus, Lily, and James have to meet up about prefect and head boy and girl stuff.”

“That’s good,” replied Remus before Pettigrew stopped in front of a compartment door. In one motion, he grabbed the handle and opened it wide for them to peer inside.

Severus was not surprised when Sirius hopped up from his seat next to Joan to greet them. “Severus! Remus!” he exclaimed, coming to meet them. He slung an arm around each of their necks and dragged them inside the compartment as Peter followed behind and closed the door.

Once the door closed, Severus decided he was done tolerating Sirius’s ridiculousness. He’d seen him hardly two days ago. “I don’t understand how you can be so loud so early,” he grumbled as he slipped out from under his arm and went to sit on the free side of Lily. he crossed his legs and arms. “It’s not as if we’ve been apart so long either.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and, to Lily and Joan, joked, “He’s such a charming fellow, isn’t he, ladies?”

“Sirius,” chided Lily, to Severus’s gratitude. 

Joan, who was looking between the two of them, smiled. As Sirius sat back down next to her, one of his hands falling on her leg, she remarked, “My sister isn’t a morning person either.” She giggled and patted Sirius’s hand. “Jack had to bring me to the station alone because she just wouldn’t wake up.”

Severus frowned. Really, Janice Moon couldn’t bother to say goodbye to her sister? Sirius seemed to pick up on his less than kind opinion from his expression alone. Before he could voice it, he chuckled and said, flippant, “Ah, well, she’s also got that you mirror to talk to her with, so I don’t think she really saw this as a ‘goodbye’.”

Joan, whose amusement had dimmed when she caught his grim expression, smiled once more. “You’re probably right,” she agreed brightly. “Janice would see it like that.”

Now that they were all in the compartment, Lily patted her knees and asked, “So, Joan, have you given more thought to where you might be sorted?”

She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Sirius proclaimed, “She’s going to be a Gryffindor like us, of course!”

Remus sighed and crossed his arms. Besides himself and Sirius, Remus was probably the person Joan spent the most time with. It was in no small amount due to him staying at the Lupins’, meaning Remus was frequently around when she came to visit Severus. Yet that was not the only reason.

Joan and Remus were quite curious about one another, neither having had the chance to spend much time with a fellow werewolf so close in age to them before. He’d walked into his home more than once after flying or biking with Sirius to discover Joan and Remus chatting away in the kitchen over chocolate biscuits. Sometimes, it was about the peculiarities of being a werewolf, but other times they weren’t talking at all. Remus had taken to playing chess with Joan. He was more skilled at the game but didn’t seem to mind playing with Joan and showing her new strategies. By the end of the summer, Severus had come to notice they had more equal amounts of each other’s pieces at the end of each game.

“Sirius, don’t pressure her like that!” complained Remus. He favored the younger girl with an apologetic look. “You would do well in Gryffindor, you are terribly brave.” He glared at Sirius. “As true as that is, you also deserve to feel you can go wherever _you_ and the Sorting Hat think is appropriate.”

Severus glanced at Sirius, who’d sunk a little in his seat at Remus’s scathing look. He didn’t look truly chastised, just a bit put-out. He rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, Remus,” Joan assured the boy. She leaned in and placed a kiss on Sirius’s cheek. Unsurprisingly, Sirius’s expression became smug after the show of affectionate reassurance. “I know he really doesn’t care.”

Sirius nodded. “That’s true,” he said only to cock his head. “Mostly,” he admitted before pressing close against Joan and murmuring into her hair. “I mean it _would_ be a lot easier to spend extra time with you if we’re in the same house…”

Joan giggled and pulled away from Sirius to stop his nuzzling. “Mh-hm,” she hummed, smiling. “You’re right about that.”

Severus sighed at the saccharine scene. He was not interested in watching their world shrink until they forgot the rest of them were here. As happy as he was that his mates had each other, he did not want to watch them be together either. “Sirius, we saw Regulus,” he said in a voice raised just a hair.

Sirius stilled. Sitting back in his seat, he kept one of his hands on Joan’s thigh while the other came to tuck his hair behind his ear. “Oh yeah?” he asked, tone cool.

He nodded and looked over at Remus who was staring at him with wide eyes. He wasn’t the only one. Potter and Pettigrew also looked taken aback at him bringing up Sirius’s brother. “On the platform,” he explained. Then, smirking, added, “Remus mistook him for you.”

“Remus!” decried Sirius, giving his mate a faux-hurt look.

The other boy hunched his shoulders around his ears and muttered, “It’s not my fault you two have the same haircut.”

“ _I’m_ not cutting my hair!” whined Sirius, not denying Remus’s accusation.

Severus snorted. “No one told you to,” he said. “It’s why he mistook him.”

Sirius eyed him then.“Not you, though, huh?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Severus shrugged and looked out the window. The Express had yet to take off. It would very soon, however. Any moment now. He’d heard what he thought was the last whistle a couple of minutes ago. “I know you both quite well as separate people,” he said as the train jolted beneath them.

His friend fell silent a moment. Finally, he remarked, “Guess that’s true, isn’t it?”

Severus glanced in Sirius’s direction. “Mh,” he replied when he found Sirius’s countenance to be unusually unreadable. “I probably will offer to tutor him in potions again this year after the feast,” he told Sirius. The sooner he did, the faster it would get around their house he was still useful, even if he was not “friendly” anymore. His housemates would leave him alone mostly then. They wouldn’t want to accidentally hurt him too much and cost themselves Os or Es in their classes. He sighed. “You won’t be a pain if some others ask to be tutored too, will you?”

Sirius’s eyes turned sharp. “That's all you’ll be doing tonight?” he demanded.

He glowered at Sirius. Sometimes, he wondered when his friend would trust him fully when it came to setting boundaries with his housemates. Internally, he sighed. It probably would not be until they graduated and Severus didn’t spend the majority of his days in their company. 

“Yes,” he ground out. “My dormmates are still leery my ‘dog’ will appear at any moment to attack them. As for your brother, he and I have never spent much time outside of me tutoring him together.”

Sirius nodded. “Yeah, I should have figured,” he said. He chuckled, the shrewd look on his face disappearing with the sound. “What would you two even talk about? You like crafting spells and potions and poetry. Regulus likes quidditch and games of chance.” His expression darkened once more. “Not to mention looking down his nose at all us traitors and other undesirables.”

The others in the compartment shifted uneasily at Sirius’s last remark. Severus, however, frowned. He knew Sirius didn’t see much hope for his brother, but if he couldn’t offer even one charitable word for his brother… 

Regulus would become the lost cause Sirius feared. 

Severus steepled his hands in his lap and met Sirius’s gaze. “When I set up our sessions, is there anything you’d like to say to him?”

Sirius blinked, mouth dropping open. “What?” he stuttered.

“Your brother,” said Severus, holding back the urge to sigh. “Would you like me to pass along any messages?”

James, on the other side of Lily, tried to catch Severus’s attention by slapping the seat beneath him and complaining, “Come on, what are you playing at? You know he doesn’t—”

“Tell Reg I hope his summer wasn’t too dreary,” broke in Sirius before he scowled at everyone, daring them to speak against the message he wanted to give his estranged brother.

Everyone was clever enough to not only say nothing but not look at him as Severus nodded. “I will,” he promised.

A minute later, Remus cleared his throat and peered out the window of their compartment door. “I hear the trolley coming,” he said to everyone. “Who’s buying what?” he asked.

-o-O-o-

Severus leaned closer to the front of the Great Hall as he watched Joan make the short walk to the sorting stool. When she sat down, the Deputy Headmistress placed the Sorting Hat on her head and the hall fell into a hush. The seconds drew on and as it seemed she may become a hat-stall, the Sorting Hat bellowed:

“RAVENCLAW!”

Severus turned his eyes to the Gryffindor table across the Great Hall and smirked, smug that he’d been right. Sirius, who’d sought him out among his fellow Slytherins, pouted at him. He didn’t focus on his friend’s expression long as Ravenclaw broke into loud applause for Joan. Severus, who was also proud to see her become one of them, joined in. 

A few housemates gave him an odd look for his reaction but said nothing. Severus was fine with that. He’d not expected, nor really wanted any questions sent his way. Joan, who had now reached her house’s table, found him among his cohorts as she took a seat among a few similarly aged Ravenclaw girls. He nodded at her and mouthed, “Well done.”

In return, she grinned.

-o-O-o-

From the corner he had secluded himself to, Severus had a decent view of Black. When he’d come into their house’s common room, Severus had decided to wait to talk to the Black heir. Earlier, he’d been surrounded by his usual gang composed of Rosier, Wilkes, Avery, and Macnair. Once, Severus may have joined them. Or at least joined Rosier and Wilkes when they split off from Black and his fellow sixth-years, Wilkes and Macnair. They’d been bragging about their summers, the trips they took, the things they bought, the experiences they had. Severus in the past always had very little to contribute to such discussions. 

This year, he could have. The shame was, he supposed, his boasts would have still sounded ridiculous to their ears. Camping, flying, and visits to town were not brag-worthy memories to Black and his ilk. 

Finally, Rosier and Avery split off from Black and his fellow sixth-years. Severus turned another page in his defense book and deliberated. Did he approach now while Wilkes and Macnair were still there? Even if they’d stopped chatting directly to Black? His decision was made for him when Macnair leaned in close to Wilkes and whispered something in his ear. Not a moment later, the two popped up and hurried toward the boys’ dorms. 

He watched them go with mild interest. It seemed they’d decided to couple off during the summers. He’d have to listen around to see when and how it happened.

Getting to his feet, he closed his book and tucked it under his arm. He should talk to Black now before some simpering fifth or fourth year tried to flirt with Black. A few of the younger girls had become quite enamored with Black since he became a prefect last year. They were going to be even worse if he was given the title of Head Boy next year after Potter graduated. Approaching the other boy where he was seated on a sofa not far from the room’s fireplace, he called out:

“Black.”

Black frowned at him. “Snape,” he echoed, his tone cool. 

Severus felt mildly amused. He probably wasn’t over being insulted on the platform. That, however, was not his problem. Coming closer until he was standing just a couple of steps away from the other, he asked, “Am I to presume you wish to continue your tutoring sessions this year?”

The other boy hesitated. Then, he sighed. “Do you have the time for it with NEWTs?” he questioned, eyeing him.

Severus nodded, amusement growing. He also felt vindicated. He’d told Sirius his brother wasn’t entirely a lost cause. If he were, he’d not have bothered to ask if Severus had time for him. “I can manage,” he assured Black.

The faint furrow between the other boy’s brows disappeared. “Then yes,” he answered.

“Very well,” said Severus. “Tuesdays at seven?”

Black dipped his chin in agreement. “That will work,” he agreed.

Instead of turning away at the agreement, Severus paused. Now was the time to pass along Sirius’s message. Of course, he needed to be delicate about it. He looked around. The youngest students had been sent off to bed at least half an hour ago. Many of the older ones were still absorbed in conversations with yearmates or finishing the last of their summer homework.

A couple did watch him and Black, however. He inched slightly nearer to the other boy and murmured, “Before I go, I did see your brother.”

Black rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you have,” he replied, sneering. “You became quite friendly with him and cold with your fellow Slytherins last year.”

Severus ignored the barb. Letting his hair fall around his face to act as a shield, he told Black, “Sirius asked me to say he hopes your summer went well.”

Black blinked at him, mouth parting with surprise. When he recovered, Black leaned back against the sofa and snorted. “Glibly, I’m sure,” he replied, tone biting.

“No, as you say, I spend a great deal of time with him,” he said. Catching the other’s reluctant gaze, he stared him right in the eye as he told Black, “Sirius was being genuine.”

“…Oh,” whispered Black, unable to hide his shock, but also what looked like hope to Severus.

Severus, who had finished his self-assigned task and felt Black would probably appreciate being left to his thoughts now, began to turn away. “Goodbye, Black,” he said.

“Wait!” yelped the other boy, leaning in Severus’s direction.

He stopped and turned his head to look at Black. “Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Tell him the same,” said Black as he glanced around to see if others had picked up on his outburst. He put his elbows on his knees and let his hands loosely overlap each other. To Severus, he looked quite unbothered. It would confuse their housemates, which he thought was likely the point. The last thing Black needed was people knowing he was talking to his disowned brother. “I hope his summer was nice too,” he mumbled.

Severus agreed. “I will,” he promised. Then, because he saw no harm in it since there was no need to go into details, he told Black, “It was, by the way.” He held back a smirk, though he knew his levity was in his eyes. “He has a girlfriend now,” he added. Black would have figured out in the next couple of days anyway. Sirius and Joan weren’t afraid to be affectionate around people.

Black’s head jerked at the information. “Who?” he demanded.

Severus said, “A new student, Joan Moon.”

The other boy’s expression turned thoughtful. “The Moons are actually a pretty upstanding family,” he commented as he returned to his previous faux-relaxed position.

He shrugged. Maybe that was true once. However, it wasn’t going to be much longer. Joan’s siblings had not been disowned by their parents, but they also were not on speaking terms. He doubted they would ever be again. Jack and Janice were adamant the only way they’d ever see their parents again is if they first apologized to Joan and accepted her back into their family. With each passing month, it seemed less and less likely the senior Moons would ever admit to being wrong and apologize. 

He’d heard through Joan Jack had plans to propose to his girlfriend on their anniversary in October. Their community would know the family was in turmoil when the senior Moons did not come to their son’s wedding, but his sisters did. People would talk then and he knew their standing would take a hit.

“Joan is a worthy witch, however, I can assure you that your brother’s relationship with her will not help him should he ever wish to regain your family’s approval,” Severus explained to Black, who scowled in response.

“You always talk like you know things, but I can’t see why you would,” he grumbled. “You’re a half-blood of a deadline.”

Severus bared his teeth. It always came back to his blood. It undercut _everything_ he did and said when it was convenient for his Pureblood housemates. “I don’t just wait for people to tell me things, I seek out answers for myself,” he snapped. “Unlike you!”

Hotly, Black argued, “I can find my own answers!”

Severus swallowed back a barrage of cutting remarks. Finally, he hissed, “This is a ridiculous conversation.” He really didn’t want to look at Black’s ugly face again so soon, but he knew it was important if he really did want to help Sirius keep a tentative connection with his brother. “I will see you on Tuesday, Black,” he spat.

Black huffed and crossed his arms. “Fine,” he grumbled, falling back against the sofa. “We’ll meet in the study hall.”

Severus nodded. “As you wish,” he replied. It was time he went, leaving Black to himself. Yet he couldn’t. Severus dropped his head and sighed. When he looked back up, he was not surprised to see Black staring at him with a dubious expression. “Black,” he said, “I know communicating with Sirius is… difficult… to do in your position. If there is anything you ever wish to tell him, now or decades on, I will pass it along.”

Black narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

Severus pursed his lips. He was not interested in sharing his motives with Black. However, he needed to give him _some_ reason. Something Black would understand. “Sirius has done me a great service,” he explained. “I wish to return his generosity.” He paused a moment and stared Black in the eyes. When he continued, he spoke in a measured tone as he told the other boy, “While you may doubt it, given how he’s treated the rest of your family, I do know he cares for you. If you need help, he would give it. All you must do is ask.”

Black turned his eyes to his lap and, for a time, appeared to struggle with the emotions Severus’s revelation had inflicted on him. Finally, when he looked up again, he was stone-faced. The red flush on his cheeks was the only betrayal of his true feelings as he told him, “I’ll remember your offer.” Black angled himself toward the fireplace and focused his gaze on the small fire burning in it. “Goodbye, Snape,” he said, dismissing him.

He rolled his eyes but walked away from Black all the same. Traveling up the steps to his dorm, he smiled to himself in victory. Severus knew he couldn't know for certain yet he felt confident Black had taken his offer to heart. As Severus stepped into his dorm and went to his bed, he sobered while putting away his book and taking out his pajamas from his trunk. Hopefully, when Black reached out to him, Sirius and Severus would be able to help.

Severus stared out one of his dorm's small, narrow windows. Black had always seemed to be a bit more sensible than his brother, quicker to realize when he was out of his depth. Changing his clothes, he felt some of his confidence return. Black would talk to him before he was in too deep in any trouble. It was the only way his offer of assistance would work. He turned back his covers and got into his bed. As he settled down to sleep, Severus began to plan how he would tell Sirius tomorrow that his brother had, for all intents and purposes, accepted Severus's offer to be a messenger for the two. As well as his reaction to Severus's reveal of Sirius's feelings for him.

Sirius wasn't going to emote much, he mused. That was fine. As long as he knew Black wanted to have a connection to him and he wasn't beyond help. Sirius would be happier and Severus would feel he was not so indebted to his friend. Finally, they were taking the first step toward being equals. Closing his eyes, Severus felt satisfied.

For the first time in his life, Severus thought he might have a good year ahead of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you know, Regulus does make an appearance in this story. I hoped you liked this epilogue and getting to see what Severus's first day back at Hogwarts looks like. As well as what house Joan ended up in!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, subscribing, bookmarking, and your comments and kudos over the course of this fic! It has been very appreciated :)
> 
> While this is the end of the story, next week there will be one last addition: an outtake from an earlier chapter. See you then!


	10. Outtake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This outtake is a scene set during the walk Lily, Severus, and Joan were taking in the woods while Sirius & co. flew on their brooms in [IV](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26642020/chapters/67115863). I wrote it and then decided I'd really rather just stick to my established POV pattern of alternating between Sirius and Severus each chapter.

The three of them trundled through the edge of the forest lining the back of the Lupins’ garden. They never wandered so far in that they lose sight of the house, though. As they came along a downed and rotting tree, Lily stepped onto it and balanced herself with outstretched arms. Spinning on her toes, she faced him and Joan who walked alongside the log. “This is nice,” she said to both of them, then, eyes focusing on Severus specifically, she added, “Reminds me a little of the forest on the edge of Cokeworth.”

Severus nodded, old wistful memories of playing children’s games of pretend flickering before his mind’s eye. “If only there were a steam,” he replied followed by a small sigh.

Lily hopped off the log. “Yeah!”

“I like this too,” piped up Joan, favoring Severus with a small smile meant for him alone. “It’s a lot more fun being in a forest with you two than it ever was with Greyback and his pack — Even when they were all in nice moods,” she continued eyes going from him to Lily and back again as she spoke.

Lily beamed at the other witch. “Thanks, Joan.”

“Joan, you never said in your last letter,” said Severus, a question that’d gone unanswered in his exchange of letters with the witch coming to him. “What year will you be in when you start at Hogwarts next year?” he asked.

Lily gasped with delight and pivoted on the balls of her feet to face Joan face-to-face. Grabbing the girl’s hand she cried, “You’re coming to Hogwarts! That’s so exciting.”

While Joan initially had tensed at Lily’s sudden motion and touch, relaxed and met Lily’s enthusiasm with excitement of her own. “I know! I can’t wait!” she gushed. She then glanced at Severus and told him, “As for what year I will be going into, they think I’ll enjoy school more if I start as a fourth-year instead of a fifth even though I’m fifteen.”

“Really? Why’s that?” asked Lily. The three of them continued their stroll, the girls’ fingers laced together still and occasionally, Joan’s shoulder brushing against his upper-arm.

“Well, my brother says it’s because Professor McGonagall thinks it’ll make transitioning to being a student easier,” explained Joan, eyes focused up on the green canopies of the trees above them. “As a fifth year, I’d have OWLs to worry about. Making mates and getting used to living normally will be harder if I’m having to study for them on top of everything else.”

“I see her point,” said Lily, expression serious. She flashed Joan an encouraging smile. “Plus, fourteen-year-olds and fifteen-year-olds aren’t too different, really.”

Joan returned the smile. “That’s what Janice says,” she said. “She thinks I’ll fit right in.”

He couldn’t help himself. Severus scoffed. Fit right in? Even if she’d been found at eleven Joan would not have “fit in”. She was physically scarred for one, but there were the years of not being a student of Hogwarts to explain now too. “That may be a little wishful on her part,” muttered Severus.

“Severus!” chided Lily, looking around the girl to glare at him.

Joan shook her head. “No, he’s right,” she said, validating Severus. Joan exhaled, a small groove forming between her brows. “I’ve lived such a different life from most at Hogwarts… I’m a little afraid I won’t fit in with whoever my housemates are.”

“I’ll be your mate no matter what!” proclaimed Lily, cheeks flushed with her determination. “I’ll introduce you to people to and you’ll have a whole gang before you know it.”

Joan’s lips lifted with a small smile. “Thanks, Lily.”

She was going to need much more than mates, Severus knew. Thankfully, he could give her that. “If anyone messes with you, let me and Sirius know,” he told her. “We’ll fix them right away.”

Joan’s face turned to him and her gaze was undeniably adoring. He had to look away. Severus was unused to people looking at him with such trust. Such _affection_. “That’s sweet of you, Severus.”

“I hope you two will run your plans by Remus or James, Severus,” fretted Lily. When Severus looked at her, she seemed to be in the midst of finding the right way to put whatever worries on her mind into words. “You and Sirius are a little… _s_ _evere_ in your responses to slights.”

He felt himself bristle. This was _always_ the problem with Lily, even when they’d been friends and Sirius and the rest of his gang the enemies. She always wanted him to just _take_ things. At some point, someone had convinced her the right path to aggression from schoolboys was just to ignore it like they were some bloody possum. “If others don’t want to end up with walrus tusks for teeth, they should think twice before trying to start something!” he snapped.

She sighed. This was an all too familiar argument between them. “Yes, they should think twice,” she conceded between a false smile. “I’m just saying, you react perhaps a little _too_ strongly sometimes.” She turned her smile to Joan, who was eyeing them both uneasily now. She bumped the girl’s shoulder. “You want Joan to have mates beside us, right? Then you can’t go and scare everyone by disappearing all of somebody’s fingers for like tripping her in a corridor.”

Joan considered Severus out of the corner of her eyes. “Have you actually vanished someone’s fingers before?” she questioned.

He hadn’t, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t. He told Joan as much. “No, but I do know a spell that can do that.”

She gaped, clearly astounded Severus could do such a thing. Severus supposed a lot of magic was quite shocking to her. From what little he’d learned and heard, Greyback snubbed his nose at magic and wands. He’d probably not allowed too much of it in his pack. 

Lily laughed in an impish way that made Severus scowl. “He’s also invented some pretty interesting spells,” said Lily, drawing the other girl’s eyes back to her. “Has he told you that, Joan?” Lily’s eyes glittered as they looked at him. “We can probably convince him to demonstrate a few if you want.”

She shook her head wildly. “No, he hasn’t!” she proclaimed. Taking her hand back from Lily, Joan placed them on her hips and frowned at him. “Why didn’t you, Severus? That’s brilliant!” She then clasped her hands together in front of her face and pouted at him. It was childish and he almost rolled his eyes at her. It was at the last second Severus thought better of it. This was a moment to remember, not deride. Soon, Joan would lose the last of her little girlness as she learned the more grownup wiles teenagers used to get what they wanted. “Oh, show us some, won’t you?” she begged.

Lily quickly joined her in her pouting and Severus covered his eyes with his hand and deliberated behind it. He had a few spells he could show off. He knew Lily wouldn’t teach them to Sirius’s friends. Joan probably wouldn’t remember them well enough to do so even if she wanted. “…Most of them are still having the kinks worked out or really aren’t half as interesting as Lily would have you believe,” he said to Joan as he let his hand fall from his face.

Lily snorted. “Modesty does not suit you, Severus,” she chided. Grinning then, she grabbed his wrist and started to pull him back toward the Lupins’ garden. “Come on, you used to love showing off stuff you could do for me. Show us some spells!”

“Yes, please, Severus!” Joan piped up, dogging their steps as they walked back into the garden behind the house.

He exhaled out his nose before saying, “A couple. I will show you _a couple_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end-end of _To Make The Bridge_. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it these last six-ish months :)
> 
> Please leave your thoughts with a comment and/or kudo!


End file.
